Singin' in the Rain
by Emily Bones
Summary: Bella and her dog Jake have been left alone on planet Earth for 7 years, after a virus drives the rest of humantiy to leave the planet. Bella thinks that the whole of humanity will never return, but things never go the way you think it will. AU. AH.
1. The Beginning

**So, I was watching **_**WALL-E**_** when I came up with this idea. Random I know. Idea also came from **_**I am Legend**_**… yes very random, but I thought it would be cool to see the **_**Twilight**_** characters in that situation. I do not own **_**Twilight**_** if I did wouldn't be writing fanfictions about it. Neither do I own **_**I am Legend**_** or **_**WALL-E**_**. Again why would I be writing Fanfictions about them if I did? You may laugh but its better than it sounds. All human. BPOV. Set 50 years in the future…**

_The Beginning_

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.

The alarm buzzed harshly against my ears. I groaned. Why did I keep a bloody alarm clock when the there was nothing to get up to? I slapped my hand on the alarm clock. Once silenced, I swung my legs out of bed, rubbing my eyes and stretching out my legs. I looked around my dingy basement which I called my room. It was small and held a few bits of furniture. A closet, a large box, bed, a door that led to the bathroom and a dog basket are all that's in the room. A pair of double doors led off to the storeroom/dining room. This was where the generator, water purifier and weaponry were also kept. There was also the only way out of the basement in there. My dog, Jake was spread across the bottom of the bed. "Home sweet home," I muttered. Glancing at the clock I saw it was 8:31 am. The Hounds would well and truly be buried in their dank caves.

I got up and wandered to the small closet were I kept all my clothes. I pulled off my well worn T-shirt that I slept in and exchanged it for a pair of jeans and a tight fitting T-shirt. Once changed I walked to the bed, "Jake?" I whispered. The large russet and black German Shepherd snuffled in his sleep. "Jake, get up you dumb dog," I said again a little more loudly. Jake opened one eye and gave me look that clearly told me to go away. I sighed and shuffled away to the doors that led to the store room. Nearly every surface in this room was covered with food. The back wall and the left wall were covered in shelves. Cans, tins, jars, packets, tubs, boxes, the list was endless. In the far right corner was a large generator that hummed loudly as it produced the only electricity in the whole town of Forks. Heck in the whole continent of America. Next to it was the water purifier. If I didn't have this piece of machinery I would have died years ago. In the middle of the room was a scuffed table with battered chairs. In the nearest left corner was a bolted door with more locks than a bank vault. Next to this door were several pairs of shoes, a large leather messenger bag and a small silvery cube. I walked to several large boxes labelled 'Jake's food' and pulled out a big dried piece of beef and walked back to the bed. I knelt down and wafted the meat in front of his nose. "Look what I have got Jakey," his eyes instantly snapped open. He sniffed the meat and instantly took a bite. "There you go," I said, "now you get up." Jake wolfed down the dried beef and jumped out of bed. He stretched grandly on the threadbare rug and then looked up expectantly at me as if to say, "you got me up now, so what are we gonna do?"

"Just wait and see Jake. I haven't eaten yet. You are so goddamn impatient sometimes," I said scratching behind the ears of my faithful dog. We'd known each other for so long that they could just read each other like books. Jake followed me back to the storeroom. I found a packet of dried porridge. I plugged in the kettle to the generator and poured some water into it. While I waited for it to boil I told Jake about what we were going to do that day, "We need to go hunting today. Wouldn't it be nice to get some fresh meat?" My mouth watered at the thought, "We're starting to run low on condensed milk.. But after that we can do whatever the heck we want. Whaddya say to going down to La Push?"

He barked in agreement his eyes sparkling. I laughed and said, "We can play fetch. Heck might even go swimming, how about that Jake?" He barked again his tail wagging.

I laughed and scratched his ears again, "Don't know what I'd do without you Jake." At that point the kettle flicked off as it finished boiling. I picked it up and poured it into a bowl already filled with the dry porridge. I mixed it, then ate it silently with Jake watching, his head on his paws as he lay down. When I was finally done I went to the small bathroom. In there was a large tin tub used for bathing, a smaller one used for washing food and hands and then a jagged piece of mirror. A few bits of toiletries were clustered on a rickety table. I picked up my toothbrush and scrubbed hard. Once done I spat into a plastic bottle and then scraped my unruly, wavy brown hair into a messy pony tail and we both headed for the door. I pulled on a pair of sturdy Doc. Martens and then grabbed the cube and shoved it into my bag. I went to a tall locker and unlocked it. Inside was a shotgun with several cases of bullets. I loaded it before taking it out and slipping it into its leather holder and slipped it across my body. I went through the long process of unlocking the door. I opened it to reveal a flight of steps going up. A stream of light flooded down from above, "Let's rock'n'roll," I said. We both trotted up the steps into the brilliant sunlight.

The once green and sleepy town of Forks was now a wreck. What had once been my childhood home was now a destroyed hulk of ruined timber and shattered stone all because of a hurricane that passed 5 years ago. I remembered the day well. My father had sprinted home, having seen the hurricane off the west coast of La Push. His face had been flushed red with the excursion, even though I had always tried to teach him about using the Ava-board. "Hurricane," he gasped clutching at the front doorframe of their house.

"Where?" I asked, Jake had only been a pup then and I had been twelve.

"Off the coast and heading this way pretty fast. We better get down in the basement, if we want to survive the Hounds and the storm in the same night. We better move the food down everything, you gotta help me." We had spent the rest of the day heaving great boxes of food, machinery and utensils to the basement. We buckled down for the night, with just a few candles to keep the shadows away. My dad had read through the book of fairytales three times to me and Jake before we fell asleep. Anything to keep the sounds of the storm at bay. And the shrieking of the Hounds who were stupid enough to be still out in the storm. When we went outside everything had been completely decimated. There was nothing left that wasn't broken. Everything was completely destroyed and what was left of anything normal was crushed.

Me and Jake stood in the middle of the wreck that once was their home. "Come on Jake," I said. We walked out of the house and onto the road. I pressed a button on the small box and it began to unfold itself, like a flower opening for bloom, until it was what looked like a surf board. It instantly began to hover about three feet of the ground. My Avian-Board or Ava-Board for short. It worked by making the air molecules underneath band together and forms a surface on which it would 'lay'. I jumped up onto the board and moved it gently forward. I saw the mess the Hounds had created last night. A dead one lay in a pool of its own black blood on the ground. I saw it twitch once. The carcasses of dead deer lay across the ground. It had been feeding time last night, like every night. "Won't they ever think of poor little us?" I asked Jake jokingly. He barked and took a sniff at the twitching carcass of the Hound. "No, Jake" I snapped. He didn't need telling twice. The Hound had enough energy left to try and take a snap at him. He jumped back and a low snarl ripped through his barred teeth. The Hound instantly stopped and flopped on the ground again.

We drifted through town checking for survivors. Hounds didn't come out during the day because they saw better in the dark. They were as blind as bats during the day because the sunlight was too bright for them to see by. You were dead meat if you got caught out by night. Picture you stumbling about in the darkness while agile, strong, fast Hounds try and take a hunk out of you. Not nice. But we had to be sure that none had gotten left behind. There were a few twitching carcasses which would be dead in the next few hours, but no strong Hounds. I noticed there were a lot more of these half-dead corpses than before. Maybe they were fighting among themselves more because there was nothing else for them to do. They had already claimed the world. They had already got rid of all the humans. They had already destroyed life forever.

If there had been any strong Hounds, I would have shot them. Hounds are just vicious dogs that need to be put down. All because of a virus. Jake thankfully was immune to this virus but every other dog wasn't. They were vicious blood thirsty maniacs. It was the reason why everyone left. Too many deaths at the jaws of these Hounds.

Once we had made the rounds we began to actually go into the houses. A few still remained standing. A few I hadn't been in were the first on my list. I jumped off the board and readied the gun. I kicked the door down and Jake streaked ahead into the building, sniffing for any other unwanted guests. He barked twice. All clear. Dad had trained that dog well. I stomped through the sitting room into the kitchen before I realised that dad had already been here before me. All the cupboards were open and empty. I cursed under my breath before whistling for Jake. This happened for the next 3 times. This was not good. I had enough food for the next 3 months or so but I was kinda planning on living for more than 3 months. If things continued this way, I would have to move soon. This was definitely not ideal.

Finally fourth time lucky I found a full kitchen. Ignoring the fridge I rummaged though the cupboards. Tins. Sacred tins. I shoved as many tins as possible into the messenger bag. As I did so I began to sing:

_I'm singin' in the rain,_

_Just singin' in the rain,_

_What a glorious feeling,_

_I'm happy again,_

_I'm laughing at clouds,_

_So dark, up above _

_The sun's in my heart_

_And I'm ready for love…_

I sighed with relief when I saw the tins of condensed milk. "Look," I said waving it in front of Jakes nose, "I can finally have coffee in the morning." He huffed as if to say, "What about me?"

"How could I forget about my favourite dog?" I said grinning at him, "We'll be hunting soon. Don't you worry."

We exited out through the back door to the back yard of the house. A forest continued past the fence. I took my gun out. I sent a silent prayer of thanks that my father had taught me how to use it before I hopped up on my board again and began to glide stealthily through the woods while Jake trotted though the undergrowth.

Everything was silent. Every now and then a bird would call its cry echoing off the trees but apart from that nothing. Jake's ears remained pricked for any noise. The crunch of a hoof, the lapping tongues against water or the snort of a pair nostrils. He could maybe even pick up a scent. For a while we sensed nothing, we just drifted through shrubs and trees. I could sense Jake was way ahead, smelling out the prey. He knew what to do if he sensed anything. Suddenly I heard a small whimper. "What is it Jake?" I asked my voice barely a whisper. I saw him standing stock still his gaze fixed on the clearing ahead. A herd of deer was grazing in the field. One large stag and several doe. I dipped the board lower and rubbed Jake's head, whispering, "Atta boy."

I stood stock still and took aim, aiming for the large Stag. "we're gonna feast tonight," I murmured as my finger curled around the trigger. BANG! The deer squealed and galloped away as their stag, collapsed shrieking in pain as a bullet wound in his chest poured out blood. I had missed the heart but at least I had got the beast down. I glided towards the twitching body and jumped down from the board. Jake took a sniff and looked up at me, begging me with his eyes to allow him to rip the stag's throat out. I frowned at him, I didn't like it when he gave me that look. It scared me, I was afraid he would turn into one of the Hounds. I aimed my gun at the stag's head and put it out of its misery. Once dead I began to heave it onto the board. This took some time, survival had made me stronger but I still had trouble with lifting dead weights like this. Jake helped as much as he could, pushing his head against the carcass. We finally had its full weight resting on the board. I got a grip of the board and pulled it along with me with Jake trotting at my side. We made it to the edge of the forest and strung up the corpse. Taking out a switchblade and several sanitized plastic bags, I began to skin and strip the body of its edible flesh. Cutting through the fat and sinew to the red meat. Placing the edible meat into bags and the inedible stuff I dumped on the ground. The Hounds could have it. It was exactly why I never did this near my home. It would have drawn them too close to my sanctuary for my liking. Once done I left the strung up carcass. I placed the plastic bags into my bag. Jake had been very good and kept his jaws to himself. Once we were out of range of the corpse I took out one of the bags and pulled out a fresh bloody steak. "There you go Jake, for holding in." He yelped with delight and practically inhaled the meat. All that was left was blood that was smothered around his jaw.

"C'mon," I said jerking my head to the street. I jumped onto the board again and we flew back to the house. I headed down to the basement again and placed the meat in the cool box. It would be fine for this evening but I would have to salt the rest of it for the coming winter months.

Once done I locked the door and we went back upstairs again. "La Push here we come!" I yelled. Jake yipped, and trotted up to the board. I jumped on again and we glided through the towns streets. I noticed that every time I tried to speed up Jake would surge forwards, "You wanna race, Jake?" I asked.

He looked at me as if to say, "gimme your best shot."

I chuckled, "prepare to lose." And with that I leaned forwards and the board shot forwards. He instantly went into a sprint following my every move. We were neck and neck for awhile before suddenly my board jerked downwards. I was going too fast, so fast that the board couldn't make the atoms band together fast enough. I stood up straight, muttering, "damn board." Jake streaked off ahead before realising I couldn't keep up with him. He streaked back like the loyal dog he was and gave a bark of triumph. "Yeah, yeah, you won, whatever don't let it get to your head." He pranced about while I proceeded forwards. We finally made it to La Push. I dropped down off the board and onto the ground. The beach was deserted with only the waves crashing against the rocks. Out of my bag I pulled out a dirty yellow tennis ball. I waved it in front of Jake's face. "Go fetch," I said before raising the ball and made it rocket towards the ocean. He sprinted off after it, splashing into the ocean. I sat down on my favourite piece of driftwood, an old upturned tree with gnarly roots. Every time Jake fetched the ball and brought it back I would throw it back out again.

My mind wandered. Back to a time when things were incredibly easy. When dad used to go fishing with his friends from La Push and the police station he worked at. When I would go to his for the summer and spring and went to Mom's for winter and autumn. When I was best friends with Alice Cullen, Rosalie Hale, Jasper Hale and Emmett Cullen. And of course a crush on Edward Cullen. They were all gone now. They went away on the big ships and left us.

_Beginning of flashback._

"_What do you mean we don't have enough credits?" my father shrieked at the droid._

"_**You do not have enough credits to buy permits for your family. Come back another time. Goodbye and have a nice day!**__" the droid said. It was white and plain like every other droid. Cold and white like snow._

"_There is no other time! This is the last ship!" dad cried. It was just me and him left with a few stragglers. The Cullens were all on the other side waiting for us. There was nothing they could do. I saw them all watching as we begged the droid to let us through. "Please," dad begged, "I have a ten year old child with me. You can't leave us for the Hounds."_

"_**You do not have enough credits to buy permits for your family. Come back another time. Goodbye and have a nice day!**__" the droid repeated. Dad shrieked and tried to pound the droid out of the way only to be met by the electric force field surrounding it. My eyes were blurring with tears, "Daddy, what does it mean we can't get through? Are we going to die?"_

_Dad was massaging his knuckles. Carlisle stepped forward his eyes full of pity, "Charlie, allow us to pay-"_

"_**Stay back and disembark to your lodgings. Stay back and disembark to your lodgings. Stay back and disembark to your lodgings**__," the polbots said. They shoved back with their invisible batons. _

_Charlie grabbed my hand and began to pull me away. "Daddy!" I shrieked, "The ship!"_

"_Charlie! Are you insane?" Carlisle cried, "You're going to be killed! The Hounds-"_

"_I have no other choice Carlisle. Go. We'll survive. I am tougher than you think."_

_I clutched my new puppy Jake, to my chest as I sobbed. Alice, my best friend from Kindergarten was being held back by her two elder brothers as she tried to get back to me her hands reaching and grabbing for me. _

"_What about Bella?" Carlisle shouted._

"_I can't even afford for her to go on. I have no other choice," he pulled me along. "C'mon Bells, I know it's hard but you gotta trust me."_

"_No! Let me go!" I screamed. It was the only time I had ever tried to hurt my father. I kicked and punched him, using all the techniques he had taught me. _

"_Bella, stop it! Bella there is nothing I can do. Please Bella!" he grabbed the top of my arms and pinned them to my side. "Bella, if I had a choice between me and you to go on that ship it would be you. But I don't. And I am sorry about that. So you have just gotta trust me. We can get though this. You and me. Me and you. Remember our song? _Singin' in the rain_? We gotta do just that. Go through the worst of the storm. We can find ways of getting through this. Remember those old books at home? The ones of how to survive in the wild? Remember my old shotgun, that was passed down from my great, great, great, great grandfather? We're the Swans. We may be pretty but we have a lotta guts. But this will only work if you trust me Bells. I lost your mother, I can't lose you."_

_I sniffled and nodded. "Ok daddy. Let me say goodbye first."_

_I turned towards the family that waited for us and waved. "Goodbye," I managed to choke out. As the Polbots pushed us back the Cullen and Hale family waved, cried and called out their goodbyes. Rosalie's and Alice's faces was streaked with tears, Emmett and Jasper had a hard look on their faces as they tried to remain tough, Esme and Carlisle waved with sorrow and anger rippling across their faces and Edward… Edward was standing there, a shocked look on his perfect face. The last thing I saw from him was him trying to form the words 'good bye' but the hatch sealed before he could finish._

_End of Flashback_

Jake barked loudly, pulling me out of my reverie. "Sorry Jake, just reminiscing," I muttered. He pushed his head into my hands and ruffled his fur. A growl rumbled deep in his chest as if to say, "You shouldn't do that again. You freaked me out."

"Oh, I won't" I murmured. I looked down at my watch and swore. 4 in the afternoon. Time to go. The sun was setting. I hadn't seen the stars for the past 7 years. God I missed them. And the moon. The beautiful full silvery moon.

I hopped onto the board and we began to shoot back home. We descended down the steps and I secured the door. I unloaded the shotgun and put it into the locker again. I kicked off my boots and exchanged them for slippers. I took out a steak from this morning and pulled out an old gas barbecue. I began to grill the steak, until it was perfectly done. I then pulled out another steak for Jake but this time covered it with tomato sauce and sprinkling of canned vegetables. "Bon appetite!" I said as I set his bowl down. He began to chew his way through his food.

I took my steak to the table adding canned sweet corn along the way. I grabbed the TV remote and pressed play. A small colour TV flickered on and the vampire movie I had been watching last night but only got halfway through, began again. It was about a normal human girl falling in love with a vampire. I usually didn't like this type of thing but I enjoyed watching teenagers having a normal-ish life. Watching teenagers worry about trivial things like homework, the opposite sex and appearances seemed wildly fascinating to me. In the distance I heard the howling begin. I tuned it out and continued to watch the movie. Jake had already eaten his plate of grub and was resting on the ground, his head on his paws, looking bored. Once I has finished eating I cleared up and put the dishes into the small metal tub in the bathroom. I washed it up with water from the purifier and then put it all away.

I turned to Jake, "You probably reek of Pacific Ocean. Time for a bath."

He huffed and began to sulk in the corner while I readied the tub. I filled it with as much water as I could possibly have from the kettle. I picked up some soap and a sponge and said, "Get in Jake. The torture now begins."

He huffed and slipped into the water. I poured water over his body and began to scrub the soap in. I continued my song from earlier:

_Let the stormy clouds chase,_

_Everyone from the place,_

_Come on with the rain,_

_I've a smile on my face._

_I'll walk down the lane,_

_With a happy refrain,_

_And singin', just singin' in the rain._

"Remind me to salt those steaks tomorrow," I murmured pouring water over his body, "we don't want them going off. I think the carrots are ready for harvesting as well. We want to have as much food as possible for winter. We can't go starving now, can we?"

Jake barked back and I smiled. I finished washing him and then dried him down. He shook out his body covering me in water as I held my hands out and laughed. The howling was much louder now. I blocked it out, I didn't want to cover it up with more noise otherwise the Hounds would hear it. Instead I got dressed into an old sweatshirt and loose fitting shorts and went to the box in the corner of my room. I opened it to reveal photos from when I was ten. Everyone was in them: Mum, Dad, Alice, Rosalie, Emmett, Jasper, Esme, Carlisle, Edward… I smiled at the memories. Flicking through each one. Picnics, birthdays, Christmases, New Years, Haloweens… everything all in one little box. It was ten before I could actually drag myself to bed. I curled up beneath the covers with Jake at my side and I fell asleep, counting his breathing.

**What do you think? Should I continue PLEASE REVIEW! For those waiting a new chapter on my other story don't worry it is coming, I just needed to get this out of my system**

**Lotsa hugs**

**SS**


	2. The Visitors

**Currently suffering from writers block in my other story. Once that story is done, this story will take priority. But until then this will be my fallback story. Hope you like this one.**

_The Visitors_

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.

"Argh!" I snatched up the damn alarm clock and nearly threw it at the wall. I stopped myself, remembering that if I did throw it at the wall I would have to find another one. Jake snuffled in his sleep and rolled on top of me. All the air whooshed out of my lungs as his full furry weight was deposited on me. "Jake!" I gasped, shoving against him, "Get *gasp* off!"

He growled and rolled onto my legs making it absolutely impossible for me to get up. "Jake, you bloody dog, get off me," I said, "I swear if you don't get off me don't expect any breakfast." He growled again before sliding off me. I sat up yawned and stretched before scratching Jakes head. "Sorry, but you weigh a ton!" I said before chuckling. If dogs could roll their eyes Jake would have but instead he gave me a look before going to his bowl for a drink. I looked around my room before sighing and getting up. I walked to the wardrobe and pulled out the same jeans I wore yesterday (they were clean enough), a red t-shirt and a zip up blue hoodie. I dragged a brush through my hair before tying it back into a ponytail. I pulled the storerooms door open and walked to the piles of food. I wasn't feeling particularly hungry so I just got a cereal bar for me and pulled out one of the steaks from the cool-box. They'd still be alright but they would start to smell soon. I slapped the steak onto a plate and set it on the ground. Jake streaked forward and began to basically inhale it. I watched with amusement as I ate my bar. I was done before he was and I began to ready several canvas-like boards which I used for salting. I heaved a huge opened sack of salt from a large pile of them. I buried my hand into the salt and took a fistful of the stuff. I began to rub it thoroughly into on of the boards. Jake nudged my thigh and I saw that he had finished his food. I picked his plate up and washed it. I realised I hadn't brushed my teeth so I went to the bathroom to do so. The salt and managed to get into the scars that crisscrossed my hands from years of surviving, making them sting. I washed my hands before heading back out to the storeroom. Jake was scratching at the bolted door, wanting to get out. "Not yet Jake, boring jobs first," I said, walking back to the boards and continuing to rub salt into them.

Once they were all done I moved onto the steaks, pulling them out of the cool-box. I then began to salt them thoroughly. I set them onto the boards and pulled out a timer. In the next two hours they would need to be turned. I pocketed the timer and headed for the door. "Here we go Jake," I said picking up the same items as the day before. When I unlocked the door we made it out into the overcast day. It was drizzling slightly and I pulled out my black waterproof coat. I pressed the button on the silvery box and in no time I was on my Ava-Board, looking for stray Hounds. If possible there were more half-dead corpses than yesterday. They mostly shivered and shuddered in their pools of black congealing blood. They're completely bald with only a few wisps of hair here and there and their eyes are milky white and staring. Their ghostly flesh is crisscrossed with scars but instead of being the pink puckered scars like mine, they're all infected and open, their bodies unable to heal themselves because of the virus. They are by far the ugliest things ever to grace this earth. Once done with my rounds I headed for the vegetable garden. One of my neighbours, who lived down the road from us, had kept a vegetable patch in his back garden. When he had left for the ships we took it over and transformed his whole garden into a vegetable garden. I left my board by the back garden door before unlocking the door and walking in. I walked to one of the patches where luscious green feathery leaves grew. Taking out a large plastic bag and a trowel I began to dig up the carrots. Jake just wandered around sniffing at the different plants I had managed to grow over the past few years.

After a while I began to sing _Singin' in the Rain_ under my breath to fill the silence. I knew the lyrics better than I knew this town. I nearly jumped out of my skin when Jake barked an angered yap. "God, Jake!" I said clutching my heart, "You scared the life outta me!"

He continued to bark his eyes locked on something on the ground. "Jake? What is it?" I asked worriedly, walking over to where he was standing stock still, his hackles raised. On the ground was a red dot. "Really Jake you're getting all worked up over a red dot?" I said laughing with relief. He growled again his posture never loosening. I sighed before bending down picking up the dot. I couldn't. The dot jumped up to be on the top of my hand. I frowned. I realized it must be a light. I looked around trying to find the source. I heard a roar coming from the sky. I looked up trying to see. Was it another storm? Jake barked again and I heard his paws patter away. "Jake!" I called whipping around to see his russet tail disappear around the door. The red dot had disappeared as well. "Jake!" I called again panic rising in my voice. I ran outside of the garden and jumped onto my board, "Jake! Get back here!" I was finally screaming now. I heard his barks a few blocks away. I surged forwards and began whipping around the ruins of houses. I listened hard as I could for Jake's bark, praying he wouldn't go anywhere he wasn't supposed to. If he went into any of the caves that surrounded the town he was done for. Suddenly I heard his bark, really close. I straightened up and leaned back on my board slowing down instantly. "Jake!" I called. I was now near the old High School. The old sign that used to say 'Home to the Spartans,' was now shredded to pieces. The roof had collapsed and only the football fields were clear of debris. Jake was standing stock still in the middle of one of the pitches, snarling. The roaring was now louder than ever.

I streaked forwards to where he was, "Jake! Don't ever do that again! I thought I had lost you."

He didn't quit with his posture, he continued to snarl. I followed his eyes and gasped. There were now at least a dozen red dots on the ground, all of them spinning in a tight circle. The roaring was now beginning to hurt on my eardrums and I could feel my insides vibrating with the noise. I looked around trying to find the source of the noise again. It occurred to me I never looked up. I looked up… and screamed. A huge ship was descending from the atmosphere. It was a sleek silvery thing with huge engines. It was something like 50,000 feet above me but it was coming down fast. It was going to land exactly where we were, if we didn't move we would be incinerated. I grabbed Jakes collar and yanked, "Jake move," he didn't, he just continued to snarl at the red dots, "Jake… MOVE!" I screamed yanking him up onto the board. I streaked away, just as I felt the flicker of heat on my face. I made the board go as fast as it possibly could. I headed for the main building of the school and tried to find something to hide behind from the heat. I found a thick wall that was still standing and hid behind it. I pressed the button on the board so that it folded in on itself, sat in a crouching position pulled Jake to my chest. He sat between my knees and buried his head into my chest. I clapped my hands over my ears and tried to block out the noise. I heard the noise peak and I almost screamed at the pain. It was so _loud. _Even with my ears covered, I swear my ears were about to burst. The heat was still penetrating around us and I felt my forehead break out in a sweat. But it died down and I heard the clicks of the engines switching off. I didn't dare look yet but I tentatively pulled my hands away from my ears. I inspected them: nope no blood, no bits of ear stuck to them. Thank god. I took a look at Jake, he appeared to be alright but was whimpering a little. I stroked his head and hushed him. It was then that I took a look around the wall. We were about 50 metres from the landing spot. Everything within a 20 metre radius of the ship was burnt. The cause for all of this destruction was a sleek silver ship. It was a triangle in shape with big black lettering stamped along the 'fins'. I read 'Asteria 12' and then a succession of numbers that made little sense to me. My heart was in full galloping mode, more adrenalin than actual blood pumping through my veins. Questions ran around my head like mice on steroids. What are they? Why are they here? What are they going to do? Have they come back for good? The last question was repeated the most as I stared at the ship.

Jake was straining against my arms, obviously wanting to check it out. I leaned forward and whispered in one of his ears, "Ok real quiet now. We don't want to give them reason to harm us," keeping a firm hand on Jake's collar I moved forward until I was now on the edge of the schools building perimeter. I then crouched down again behind a large piece of broken concrete and peered over the edge. The reason I was acting so stealthily was partly because I didn't know what these people they could want to shoot everyone who had ever survived for some unfathomable reason. Or they want to take me and do tests or whatever (when you're one your own for 2 years you tend to watch a lot of movies). And because partly I was terrified of what I would say. The last human being I had spoken to was my dad and that was 2 years ago now. I had almost forgotten what social rules there are amongst other people. I was probably going to look so backward to them. So I just watched and waited as a door line became evident on the smooth surface of the ship and watched with a childlike fascination as the door slid back then right. A ramp slid out smoothly, meeting the ground and then they came out.

They were 5 people, 5 people that were so achingly familiar yet so unrecognizable. Alice, Rosalie, Jasper, Emmett and Edward. I clapped my hand over my mouth to prevent myself from screaming with delight. My childhood friends, the ones that for so long only lived in my memories and those real moments frozen on paper in a box back home. I could see that they had grown up, but in a totally different way from me. They were all strikingly beautiful. From Emmett's huge frame to Alice's small pixie one, they had matured into supermodels and gods. Rosalie was the very meaning of the word beauty: tall with flowing blonde hair and bright blue eyes. Jasper, being her twin looked almost exactly the same except his eyes were more grey than blue. Alice was still as small as ever but she had fairy princess look around her, her grey eyes still sparkling with life. Her brother Emmett was looked like he belonged on the front of a men's health magazine with his curly dark hair and playful brown eyes. And Edward…I wasn't really surprised that my crush for him hadn't died over the years. His eyes were the same vibrant green that looked like emeralds and his bronze hair twisting in different directions looking like flames. When I took in what they were wearing, I almost gasped with envy. They were all in dove grey jumpsuits, made of some kind of synthetic material that moulded and sculpted to their bodies perfectly. Compared to them I knew what I must look like. My lips chapped, dirty jeans, rough weather beaten hands, wild hair and eyes that had seen too much. I was a ghost of what humanity was, while these were the representatives of what humanity is. Imperfection vs. Perfection.

They walked around taking in the scenery before Rosalie spoke, "It is not what the Educator told us what it was going to look like. It is far more… green than it said."

Hell, even their voices were beautiful. Edward not meeting her gaze and said, "Well the Educator was wrong then." His voice was full of boredom, as if landing in a silver spaceship was nothing to him.

"Everything's… broken. I remember the Hounds being violent but I didn't think they would be able to destroy a building," Alice said walking to one of the football posts and running a finger along its splintered edge, "Do you think… do you think they survi-"

"Of course not, Al!" Rosalie scoffed, "They would have starved to death years ago. Would you quit going on about them."

"Roz, you know that's not true," Jasper said putting an arm around Alice, "Charlie and Bella were the toughest people we knew. They always went on those camping trips with you Culls. There is every chance they might well still be alive."

"Well where are they then?" Rosalie sneered, "Why don't they come out?"

"Roz," Emmett said pleadingly putting a hand on her shoulder, "Don't be mean."

"Look, we were sent with a mission," Edward finally snapped, "We had to come and see if this place was inhabitable again. Not whether Bella Swan survived. Can we just get on with it?"

"Alright Ed, chill," Jasper said, "I've still got those relax tablets if you want. You've been grouchy all the way here."

"I just don't like talking about the past, that's all," Edward muttered, "and stop calling me Ed. It may be the new fashion to have a name that has one syllable but that doesn't mean I want to follow it. My name is Edward."

"Jeez, touchy much?" Emmett said raising his eyebrows. They were beginning to go back to the ship. Jasper went inside and came out with a small white cube, rather like my board cube. He threw it on to the ground and up sprung tent, tall enough for Emmett to stand in. Jasper went inside the tent for a few minutes before coming out again with a a white box with dials, buttons, a small satellite dish and a screen. "We should start looking around for the Hound virus, see if it's still airborne," he said tapping on the on the box with his long fingers.

"Al, Em and I will look for stray Hounds for testing," Edward said striding towards the edge of the pitch while gesturing to Alice and Emmett.

"I'll just help Jaz then," Rosalie said.

They all split up and when both Jasper's and Rosalie's backs were turned, I unfolded my Ava-board and we both slipped away. My head was whirling, partly from shock, partly from excitement and partly from fear. The human race was finally coming back. They were finally coming home. I didn't really know what to think. But right now all I wanted to do was to watch my friends. I made my way silently through the streets, with Jake trotting with me. I saw them on main street crouching over a dead Hound's corpse, prodding it with Perspex instruments. I watched them from behind an over turned car. I tried to match them with the people I knew but couldn't. They weren't more serious than before, more… sophisticated. Once done with on corpse they would move onto another and I would follow. What felt like minutes later, my timer buzzed. Cursing I fumbled around to turn it off. Edward snapped his head around his eyes flickering near where I was hiding, an old upturned tree. "Who's there?" he barked his eyes never leaving where I was, "Show yourself!"

"Edward what is it?" Alice asked following his gaze.

"Some one's watching us from over there. I heard something buzz," he said. He straightened and made his way towards the tree. Hell! I looked around desperately trying to find a subtle escape route. Seeing none I realised I would have to stay where I was or leg it. Second option. I jumped onto the board and streaked off. Jake followed me at lightening speed. I looked back. I saw the three of them standing still, jaws agape staring at our streaking bodies. I turned back round and the world blurred to smudges of green, grey and brown.

**There we go! Hope you like! Please say so. Reviews are like a warm summer breeze while you're relaxing…**

**Lotsa Love**

**SS**


	3. The Meeting

**I am sorry I haven't updated in a while. My other story had clicked into place and for a while I only had ideas for that story (you can take a look at it if you want, but personally I don't think it is as good as this story but I enjoy writing it). And not only that I had a crap load of coursework to do, and I am afraid school work takes priority over writing. (Insert wistful sarcasm here) Until I am a world famous writer with a gazillion pounds in the bank to spend on, when my name ends in the name 'Pattinson' and when I have an endless amount of time, (remove wistful sarcasm) my stories will have to fit in with my busy schedule. But it is the Christmas holidays soon and here I am again with another chapter. Anonymous13 asked a couple of questions so here are the answers:**

**Question 1: **_**Where did you get the inspiration for this story?**_

**Answer: From watching **_**WALL-E **_**and **_**I am Legend**_** back to back. And because I have always been kind of fascinated with the idea of an apocalypse that either wipes out the human race or sends them away. I thought it would be cool to put the Twilight characters into this type of plot without any vampires. The story is loosely based on the two mentioned movies but I will try not to be so predictable. Because just totally going on the movies' plot is just boring for me and you…**

**Question 2: **_**Is Bella going to go back to the other planet with them? If so, are they gonna' see Esme and Carlisle?**_

**Answer: Absolutely (whose to say it is a planet?) and there will be a very emotional reunion…that's all I am saying.**

**Question 3**_**: Are you going to incorporate the Volturi into it? They could be the government or something and not want to let Bella onto the planet.**_

**Answer: Yes the Volturi are definitely involved but their role is rather sinister. Bella is kinda going to be the female Sherlock Holmes of this story. Again that is all I am saying…**

**So I am sorry for the inexcusable lateness and enjoy the sho- I mean words…yeah.**

_The Meeting_

I streaked towards my house and was down to the basement in a flash. I fumbled to get in and once Jake had finally whipped in I slammed the door shut. I locked ourselves in and once done I slumped against the door and slid down. Jake sat, with his head cocked onto one side as he looked at me quizzically. "What was all that about?" his eyes were telling me.

"Well what else was I going to do?" I asked incredulously, "Walk up to them and say 'Hi! I am your long lost childhood friend who has been living on this planet for past seven years with only a dog for company!' Yeah, great plan, just superb!"

I knocked the back of my head against the door several times, muttering "stupid," every time I did so. When I was finished committing internal suicide, I got up and walked towards the salting boards, so I could finally turn the salted steaks over. Bloody hell, what was I going to do? I shuddered at the thought of trying to hide from these people for the rest of their stay. I wasn't entirely sure why I wanted to stay away from them… maybe it was because I haven't talked to anyone but Jake for the past two years. And before that I only had Dad for human company. That was the point that I wished dad was here. He would know what to do. The same dull ache started up in my chest as I thought of him. My dad. He knew how to do anything in the world.

I leaped a foot in the air when a loud thudding slammed into my door. I looked around panicked as the door shuddered under the force of the blows. "Hello! Anyone there?" came a booming voice.

I crept towards the door and peeked through one of the many keyholes, though it was blocked by white clad torso. The door shook again and I scrambled backwards. Jake was looking at me like I had antennae growing out of my head. I watched in horror, as he opened his jaws to bark. I lurched forwards and snapped his jaws shut. "Shhhh!" I whisper yelled.

I kept his jaws clamped shut as I listened to the three people that were standing outside my basement door. "Anyone in there? There is no need to fear us," the voice said after the thudding stopped.

"You sound like a douche, Em," I heard Alice exclaim, "it could be…her," she whispered in trepidation

"Fine, fine," the voice said gruffly, "Hey…er… Bells? It's Emmett speaking. I er just…uh well I have missed you so much Hells Bells. There's no need to be so scared. We have come here to report back to U-Topia, to tell them if we think that Earth is habitable again. You can come back with us if you want. Just come out please. We won't bite I promise. Aw gee, Hells Bells I just want to see your face again. I want to be able to throw you over my shoulder again, to annoy you. I want to treat you as my other little sister. Just please, please, please, please, please come out."

Tears were streaming down my face as clutched Jake to my chest but I couldn't bring myself to open the door. What if they were repulsed by what they saw? What if they left again and left me here, alone, cold and in the dark. It would be ten times worse than last time because I didn't have dad. And as much as I love Jake to bits there was only so much a dog can do for a broken heart.

"Bella, if it's you, it's me Alice! Well it's Al now but you can still call me Alice. Bella I have missed you so much! I never stopped thinking about you, not for one second. If you're in there please come out. I really want to talk to you again. Friends forever, remember?"

Just hearing Alice talk, made me decide what to do. I was going to face them I was going to get in touch with humanity and my friends. I wiped the tears away and got up shakily. Jake looked up at me with eyes that said, "I've got your back."

"Thanks," I murmured.

"Did you hear that? Someone said something!" Alice said excitedly. I smiled, imagining her face as if she was standing right next to me. Her silvery grey eyes would be lit up, she would be chewing on her finger nails, her face would be fixed into a permanent smile that could light a room. I couldn't wait to see it in front of me. I reached out and brushed my fingers against the first lock.

"You guys should look at yourselves, its pathetic," a sneering voice shattered my hope in one fell swoop. "You look like a couple of kids waiting for Santa to come down the chimney. She's not there, idiots. You're just hearing things. There is about one to a million chance she is alive. What we saw earlier could have been any girl. This is probably not even the right house. And anyway there was nothing special about her anyway. She was just the daughter of our father's best friend. She was so _clingy_. She was a snivelling, weird, little girl who was nothing without us. Honestly we are better without her. Can we _go_?" Edward's voice was beautiful, confident and scornful. It seeped around the door and wrapped me into a suffocating blanket of stone cold words. I shrank back from the door, taking Jake by the collar with me.

"How could you say that?" Alice said, her voice cracking, "She was the only true friend I could tell anything to. Even now there is no one who matches that kind of friendship apart from Roz."

"Even you believe she is dead!" Edward accused, "'_was_ your only true friend?' Face it she's gone and not coming back. Get over it."

"There was no need to speak of her like that!" Emmett shouted and I imagined him glaring at Edward's perfect face with storm cloud eyes, his fists clenched for a fight.

"Enough of this stupidity. She's not here and the world is better for it. Can we continue with what we were supposed to be doing?" Edward's voice was fading away. I was clutching at my chest as it was slowly getting ripped apart.

"We better go Al. He's right, she's not here," Emmett said sadly.

"No he's wrong! She's here, I can feel it!" Alice cried in anguish.

"You believe whatever you want to believe Al. I am going back up you coming?"

"Just give me a minute," Alice said quietly.

I heard Emmett trudge up the stairs. "Whether you are here or not Bella," Alice whispered, "I am going to leave something for you. I brought it along just in case you were here. I have one exactly like it except its green. I was going to give to you before the ships took off, but there was not enough time. I hope you like it. I made it myself. Guess what I am training to be Bella? Apparel Artist. Basically a fashion designer, just like you said! *sigh*...I love you Bella, with all my heart. You were never a snivelling weird little girl to me. Come out and prove Ed wrong. He has always been grouchy, ever since we left on the ships. He won't admit it but he has missed you as much as we have. Just come out in your own time Bella. Seeya later. Cross my heart."

I gasped slightly as she used our special saying. A long lost memory was drifting up from when I was 5.

_Beginning of flashback._

"_Promise you will come tomorrow!" Alice pouted, as mommy put my pale blue raincoat on. _

"_I promise," I said earnestly, "Cross my heart." With one of my podgy fingers I drew a wonky cross over my heart._

_Alice cocked her small head to the right, her black spiky hair seeming to stand straight up on the other side, "What does that mean?"_

"_It means that Bella is telling the truth," Mommy said smiling, "she is promising to see you soon."_

"_Oh," Alice said, her mouth forming a perfect 'o'. "Well, I cross my heart to. Cross my heart to see you again." She dragged her finger into a cross over her heart. _

_I grinned at her, "Well I cross my heart to." I crossed my heart again. Alice giggled and mirrored me. For a good 3 minutes we kept on crossing our hearts and grinning until mommy ushered me out of the door. For the rest of my time being best friends with Alice, if we were ever about to part, we would cross our hearts. A promise to each other that we would see each other soon. _

_End of Flashback_

I let out a long breath and was dismayed to not hear Alice at the door anymore. I managed to get up and I tiptoed towards the door. I pressed my ear against the wood. Nothing. I began to gently click the locks open and I pulled the door open. I looked around the stairway. There was no evidence they had been here. Well one piece of evidence. On the first worn, wooden board just outside the door was a small neatly pink wrapped parcel. I bent down and picked it up. It was still warm from being in Alice's hands. I tentatively brought the package to my nose and sniffed the paper. Wow. I can't really describe Alice's scent. The scent of my long lost childhood is probably the best way to describe it. I brought it inside and locked the door again. I sat down at the table and placed the package on the table carefully, like it was the most fragile piece of glass. I stared at it for a few seconds before gently ripping the paper. Inside was a deep blue and white friendship bracelet. The thread looked like it was silk and the ends had bright blue beads that glinted in the light. My face split into a grin and I felt tears well up again. I slipped the blue bracelet on and tied the ends together one handed. "Look," I said showing it to Jake. He took a sniff at the bracelet and gave me a hopeful stare. I giggled and retracted my wrist. I didn't have much jewellery. Jewellery was impractical for this kind of life. It can get caught in the shotgun, get lost while hunting, might drop into the animal you are trying to gut and clean. Not only that the first time I kept a piece of jewellery, Jake the Pup found it and ate it. Dad had to make Jake vomit to get the small plastic ring out otherwise Jake could have gotten ill. Afterwards I never touched the bracelet again.

I stared at the bracelet for a few minutes, going through the memories before Jake nudged my hand. I jumped, realizing I needed to get the carrots back. "Stay here," I said firmly to Jake. I picked my board up and unlocked the basement door. I made my way as silently as possible to the vegetable garden. No one was particularly close by so I managed to get the carrots and was back within a few minutes into the basement. For the rest of the day I sat inside my basement, talking to Jake, who had listened loyally

For the next week it continued like this. I would stay in the basement and only went out if I absolutely had to. I would let Jake out as well but only on a leash, something I hadn't done in years. Jake was very angry at me for this. He would hardly look at me anymore and seemed close to rebelling. I could tell he thought me a coward. I was a coward. Me. Bella Swan. The girl who for the past few years of her life, has shot, gut and hacked to pieces countless number of animals without even flinching. The girl who has put her hands into anything and everything. The girl who has had to grow up fast. The girl who was now afraid to talk to other people. Brilliant. I would try to talk to them. Sometimes I caught sight of them at which point I would square my shoulders and tell myself firmly that, 'now was the time to end this. Walk over there and say hello.' But just when I was about to do the deed, Edward would suddenly come into sight and I would instantly shy away. I hated Edward. I truly hated him. Why did he have to ruin it? Why did he have to make me feel worthless? My silly school girl crush for him was well and truly over for him. It died when he had talked with his loud obnoxious voice outside my door. For the first time in years I saw just how he treated me when I was young. I used to follow him around exactly like a lost puppy, used to moon over his good looks, used to doodle 'Mrs Bella Cullen,' all over my books. Not anymore. I saw him clearly now. He was just a jackass. A prick. A son of a bitch. I will no longer dwell over him. Things I have learned since the Cullens and Hales arrived, Lesson 1: People are not what they seem.

Eventually Jake got fed up of the sneaking around. I had taken him out on the last day of the week. He was straining against his leash as the cold wind whipped about my face and hands. It was a particularly cold day. My hands were numb after a few minutes of being outside and I could feel the first nip of winter on my cheeks. I was waiting impatiently for Jake to do his business so I could go out into the forest to look for the last of the wild berries. I had my shotgun slung across my back, just in case I came across any wild animal that took one look at me and thought, 'Dinner.'

"Hurry up Jake. Freezing my ass off here," I grumbled. He continued to strain against the leash, whimpering as he did so.

"Jake," I whined. As I changed the leash from one hand to the other, Jake yanked hard on it, the leash slipped out of my fingers and he was gone like a bullet. "Jake!" I shouted, anger sparking in my voice. I set off after him, sprinting down the street. My balance has never been great. Before the epidemic I could hardly walk across a flat surface without falling on my face. During my time on earth alone, my balance improved but whenever I run I sometimes still slip and slide. That was why I preferred using my Ava-board instead of going on foot.

I scrambled around the corner and nearly lost my footing on the wet ground. I saw a flash of russet to my left and dashed to follow it. I could hear Jake barking joyfully and I growled under my breath a thousand and one curses, as I continued to tear after him. "Jake! Get back here, you dumb dog!" I shouted. I could feel a stitch beginning to form under my ribs. Bloody, bloody, bloody, bloody, bloody, bloody, bloody, dog!

As I continued to chase after him I realized where we were going. The school's football pitches. I felt my stomach plummet. That was where the outsiders were. Pardon my French but…holy shit. Holy shit ten times over. I was finally screaming at Jake, "Jake for the love of God, please get your butt back here!"

There was a playful yip and my heart plummeted when I heard it come from the football fields. I rounded the corner into the desecrated parking lot and scrambled up the muddy bank to the field. That's when I heard it: The loud 'pows' that echoed off the shattered buildings. The scene before me was quite incredible. Jake was prancing about on the grass, dodging this way and that way to avoid the bright blue slashes of lights, which were slicing through the air. My eyes landed on Edward, who was standing stock still, a few metres away from where Jake was doing the death tango. He held a smooth white gun shaped object in his right hand, which was producing the bright blue lights. Alice and Rosalie were cowering by one of the tents sobbing uncontrollably as Emmett and Jasper stood over them trying to protect them. For a while I couldn't understand what they were protecting the girls from until I saw what the blue lights did. One of the lights hit a large piece of concrete; the whole thing turned to fine powdery dust right before my eyes. Edward was trying to aim these blue lights at Jake. _My _Jake. I saw red. _No one _tries to harm Jake. When a mountain lion once pounced on Jake, I had shot the lion in the head, ripped its stomach open, and then hung it up for the hounds to rip apart.

Without thinking I swung my shotgun case around and pulled the shotgun. With expert fingers I loaded it and swung it back up so that I had Edward in my sights. "Put the weapon down now!" I shouted at him.

Edward's face whipped around and his face was a perfect look of shock. I almost lowered the gun. Almost. "B-B-Bella?" he stuttered, his jade eyes as wide as saucers. He didn't lower the gun and out of the corner of my eye I saw Jake standing still for once.

"Put the weapon down!" I shouted again. I was holding the butt of the gun hard into my shoulder and my eyes never left Edward.

"Bella…it's me. It's Edward. You wouldn't shoot me," he said in a whiney voice that I hated. His beautiful eyes were pleading and his perfect lips were turned into a frown. It was his beaten-puppy-dog face that one upon a time would have had me at his feet. But that was a long time ago.

"Don't bet on it," I snarled, cocking the gun with a deafening click, "Put your weapon down on the ground before your brains become freshly made strawberry jam."

His face drained of all blood and he slowly crouched to the ground, resting the weapon on to the ground. The barrel of my gun followed his every move. He then straightened up and put his hands up. "There, gun's down," he said his eyes warily on me.

I gave him a tight smile and whistled through my teeth for Jake. He trotted to my side and gave me a doleful look, he knew he was in trouble. I only whistled for Jake when I was furious at him. I gave him a glare that should have burnt holes into his skull, "You are in deep trouble," I growled at him. He hung his head and pushed back his ears. I turned my attention back to Edward and slowly but surely, I lowered my gun. "Try and shoot Jake again, I will blow your brains out," I told him

He frowned again, "but he's a Hound…"

"No he's not," I said gruffly, "Jake's immune to the virus. He wouldn't be here if he wasn't. And you very nearly shot him you asshole. If you were unlucky enough to hit on target, I would have shot you whether we are childhood friends or not." Things I have learned since the Cullens and Hales arrived, Lesson 2: People are unobservant.

He flinched as I said the last few words, but I noticed Alice moving away from where she had originally crouched. Jasper tried to stop her but she managed to slip past him. She walked past Edward but stopped a few metres away from me. She cocked her head onto one side, an unrecognizable look on her face. She stared at me for a long time and before I knew it, she had whammed into me. Her thin arms were wrapped around my waist as she gave me the first real hug I have had in two years. I froze, not sure what social etiquette called me to do. But then my emotions took over. I swung my arms (gun and all) around her tiny frame and held her tight. My best friend. I felt tears well up in my eyes and finally spilled over. They soaked into her clothes but I found I didn't care. She leaned back her arms still around my frame and grinned up at me.

"Don't cry Bella!" she murmured, wiping my tears away with her soft thumb, "or you'll make me cry!" I could see her large grey eyes sparkle with tears. She hadn't grown at all in the past few years. She was a head shorter than I was but it gave her the look of a small elfin fairy, as her eyes still showed a kind of mischievous sparkle, that I had missed so much. She pulled away from me, her arms dropping to her sides. She tucked a lock of short hair behind her ear and smiled shyly at me.

"Hi Bella, it's been a long time," she said her face a perfect shade of pink.

"Yeah, seven years is a long time. It's good to see you. I've…um I've missed you," I said awkwardly. I rubbed at my bloodshot eyes and wondered if I was dreaming. I could feel the burning beginning to enter my cheeks now. I was never good with emotions. Especially with humans. I could say all kinds of things to Jake but humans, not so much. Things mattered when you say things to them.

"Still blushing I see Bella. I was worried it had gone forever," Emmett said grinning. He towered over me, a mountain of muscle. He grinned down at me while swooping me up into his arms. He raised me a foot off the ground and squeezed me so hard my ribs felt close to cracking.

"Emmett…can't…breathe…" I managed to gasp out.

I thumped him on the back until he put me back down again. There was a surprised look on his face. "Wow, Bella. You're all…muscle. It's weird. I still have this image of you as a little girl in my head. I can't… I can't…" He shook his head bemusedly.

"You can't match me up with her can you?" I asked, "feeling's mutual, when did you get so… big?"

Emmett bellowed a laugh that that sounded like a thundering waterfall, and he chucked me under my chin. "I missed you kiddo," he said real raw emotion in his eyes, "when I first came here I thought you would be dead. All of us did."

"Nope, I am alive and kicking," I said swallowing the lump that was starting to form. Here they were my friends; they had come back for me.

"Where's Charlie? Is he ok?" Alice asked a hopeful glint in her eye.

I smiled sadly at her. Dad had adored Alice. "No, he died a couple of years ago."

Her face fell, "Oh… I am so sorry Bella."

I gave her a tight smile, "He went down as he should have. Died in his sleep of I am not sure what."

Everyone looked gloomy at that point. Dad had been quite close to these kids. "So it's just been you and that…dog for the past two years?" Rosalie said a slightly disgusted look on her face.

"Yeah and 'the dog' is called Jake. He's my best friend and if any of you try to harm him, I will serve your own head on a silver platter," I said dangerously, particularly glowering at Edward. He scowled back at me, and looked like a child denied candy.

I turned my attention to Rosalie, who was standing back from the group. She had this weird look in her eye as she stared at me, as if she smelt something unpleasant.

"Rose," I said smiling again, "It's so good to see you again."

"It's Roz actually," Rosalie said giving me a cold look.

I raised my eyebrows at her saying, "'Roz'. Really? Like that slug secretary in _Monsters Inc._?"

She pursed her lips and said frostily, "I don't know what you are talking about."

I laughed, the laughter echoing off the trees. "Don't play the forgetful game with me. You used to love that movie. Me, you and Alice used to stay up all night watching it when we were five. There were parts that would have us in stitches. Don't tell me you have forgotten that?"

Her eyes drilled into me and in that moment I knew that the old Rose that I knew was no longer there. Or rather she was buried beneath the bitchy Rose that had taken over. Things I have learned since the Cullens and Hales arrived, Lesson 3: People change.

"Well, it's good to see you again," I said politely. I held out my rough callused hand for her to shake.

She stared at me as if I had offered her a dead fish. "Same," she said, he voice sneering as she took my hand daintily with her perfect soft hand. Her fingers were loose and her palm barely made contact with my palm. I grinned at her and curled by fingers into a strong hold around her hand. I shook it firmly and enjoyed the scene of disgust that began to play across her features. I finally let go and saw Rosalie trying to surreptitiously wipe her hand on her clothes.

I suppressed a smirk, amused by this new Rosalie. She was afraid I was carrying germs. Ha! I bet she has never had a cold in her time away. Things I have learned since the Cullens and Hales arrived, Lesson 4: People are paranoid.

"Bella?" I turned to where the soft voice was coming from. Jasper was smiling an easy smile, his eyes warm. I smiled back, instantly feeling relaxed. Jasper had that effect on people. He was easy to hang out with, the exact opposite of Rosalie. He stepped forward and hugged me close again. I hugged him back, feeling the warm calm spreading through me and gave him another smile when he pulled away. "I see what you mean Emmett," Jasper said looking at Emmett, "she's all muscle, not a scrap of fat on her. Did you work out while we were gone Bella?"

I shook my head, "No, just survived."

Suddenly a bark came from my left. I turned to see Jake, standing wagging his tail, his tongue lolling out ridiculously. Bloody attention seeker.

"You must be very pleased Jake. I have finally met other humans," I said laughing, "You're still in trouble though."

"Why do you talk to him?" Edward's voice said irritably.

Jake reacted instantly. He pushed back his ears, his hackles rose and a low thunderous growl ripped through his chest.

I turned to see Edward taking a step back, "He is safe right? He won't attack me, will he?"

I rolled my eyes, "Only if I tell him to," I said stroking my fingers through Jake's coarse hair trying to get him to calm down. "You shouldn't have tried to shoot him though."

Edward scowled at me, "You've changed Bella. I am not sure I like it."

"Well you haven't changed one bit," I said coolly, "But this time I don't like it either."

Edward's face flashed a look of shock and then anger at me. Things I have learned since the Cullens and Hales arrived, Lesson 5: People don't like it when things don't go their way.

"Why are you all here?" I asked, "Why now? I have heard nothing for 7 years and all of a sudden you're all down here. Is this a vacation for you?"

"God no," Rosalie muttered but I ignored it.

An excited glint appeared in Alice's, Jasper's and Emmett's eyes. "The Volturi have ordered for 9 groups to go down and check if earth is inhabitable again. We're coming back Bells!"

I frowned, "'we' as in the entire human population?"

"Yes!" Alice said breathlessly, wringing her hands.

"Where are you?" I asked, "Are you on another planet? They never said where the ships were going…"

"No, we are somewhere _so _much better," Alice said, "Its called U-Topia and is basically a land in the sky. It has everything, air, water, gravity, entertainment, comfort, education-"

"I am sorry you lost me after 'land in the sky'. That doesn't make sense," I said feeling bemused.

"Isn't it obvious?" Rosalie snapped. She jabbed her finger upwards, "there are great electronic platforms in space. They're inside air capsules and are spinning around the sun, like another planet. Volturi Corporations couldn't find another planet to settle on so they just made one."

"What? Volturi Corporations?" I asked scratching my head confused.

"They used to be called: 'Aro and Co.' but changed their name to Volturi when everyone went into U-Topia," Alice said patiently. I recognized the name 'Aro and Co.'. They had been a very big company back when I was little. They had their name on anything and everything: clothes, food, real estate, cars, cosmetics, technology and much more. They were the first to make the first efficiently working droid in the world and able to sell it commercially.

"And now they want all of you back?" I said.

"Yes, they think the planet should be recovering now but they just wanted to check first," Alice replied.

"And that's what you are here for?" I said it was all finally becoming clearer.

"Yes, we are the best of the best of the education system up there, that's why they sent us," Alice said smiling, "and you are exactly what we are supposed to be looking for."

I reeled, "really?"

"Yes! You have managed to survive on this planet for seven years. You are a success story! You will be welcomed back as a hero, a relic to humanity's struggles. You will be able to teach the rest of us how to survive without so much technology. You will lead the way for the rest of us."

"What? No!" I blurted out. Alice's face fell; she obviously thought I would be ecstatic by this piece of news. Quite the contrary. "Alice…I can't. I can't teach the rest of humanity how to survive. I have been alone on this planet for the past seven years, the first 5 with a middle aged man, the rest with a dog. I am not really a people person."

"Oh we can help with you that! You just tell us what to do and we can show it to the others! How hard can it be?" Alice chirruped gaily.

My mouth flopped open. Did she actually say that? Things I have learned since the Cullens and Hales arrived, Lesson 6: People are ignorant. I stared at her, with my mouth hanging open for a full five seconds before regaining the use of my mouth and saying, "Insanely hard, Alice. It's only just now that I have managed to master it and even then I still slip up. Look at my hands and compare them to yours."

I thrust my hands forward and saw their eyes widened as they compared their own hands with mine. The nails on theirs were cut into perfect ovals for the girls and masculine squares for the boys and smooth cuticles. The nails on mine were cut brutally short, almost not there from all the amount of times my nails have broken off, the cuticles ragged and the skin puckered around the small nails. Their fingers were smooth and elegant looking, hardly a blemish on them. My fingers were laced with scars, the odd scab drying on the surface, dirt caked into the cracks of my old scars, a few burns stretched across the skin. Their palms were a perfect expanse of smooth skin; the only indentations were the palm lines that stretched across the skin like strands of spider silk. My palms were calloused, my natural lines lost in the blisters, the hard skin cracked in places, the mud also caked into the jagged fissures. The back of their hands had smooth soft pale skin with no blemishes. The back of my hands red with a mixture of sunburn and sheer wear, the skin covered in little scratches. But there was a large scar stretching from the bottom knuckle of my left thumb up to the bottom knuckle of my left pinkie, one long jagged pink streak, the scar tissue stretched in places. Their hands were beautiful, clean and well cared for. My hands were ugly, dirty and the worse for wear.

"Your hands…what happened to them?" Alice asked, her face pale.

"7 years of being self sufficient, that's what," I murmured. I pulled back my hands, "Do you see now? Survival is nothing like what you see in the movies. It is not glamorous, it's not fun, and it's not a 'walk in the park.' Its bloody hard work and things like appearance and looking beautiful, matter zero."

There was a silence while they contemplated my words. "Well…why don't you show us?" Emmett suggested.

I frowned at him, "What do you mean?"

"I mean why don't we leave our camp and follow you around for the next few days, learn from you firsthand?"

"That's a brilliant idea Em!" Alice cried patting her brother on the back.

"Are you nuts?" Rosalie cried, "We have everything we need here! Why do we have to go and learn how to survive?"

"Because it will give more teachers for home. We need to t" Alice said simply, "we were told to do a job and this is us doing it. And anyway who better to learn from than Bella? She is probably the guru of survival."

I couldn't quite believe my ears. I looked down at Jake, "Are these guys serious?" I asked him. He gave a bark and wagged his tail as if to say, "I don't mind, this could be fun!"

I rolled my eyes at him, just as Edward spoke, "There is no way I am going to stick my hands in mud when we already have all we need. It will be pointless."

"No it wouldn't we will be able to learn a lot more. Stop being such a pessimist, it's starting to irritate me," Alice said stomping her foot. Edward opened his mouth and began to argue with her. Rosalie joined in as did Emmett until eventually Jasper also began to argue. The noise level raised several decibels. Jake and I took several steps backwards.

"Guys-" I tried to say but was cut off by Emmett snapping, "You are not listening to me! We were sent with a job and we have to do it!"

"Really-" I tried to say again.

"You are such a douche Em. We can't go out and trust some girl with our lives; she could tell us a whole load of crap that is not even true!" Edward shouted back.

"People-"

"I mean how do we know that she isn't making this stuff up!" Edward continued.

Eventually I lifted my loaded shot gun into the air and fired. The loud bang that erupted made everyone jump and shut up instantly. They turned to look at me with wide eyes. "Firstly would you all shut the hell up, you are giving me a headache," I grumbled rubbing my temples.

"You-" Rosalie fumed but everyone glared at her so she shut her mouth again.

"Secondly how do you know I am going to help you learn how to survive? I haven't even said I am going to do it yet. I don't even know how long you are all going to be here. _If_," I made sure to stress the 'if', "I do decide to take you guys on there is the matter of food, I don't have enough to feed all of you for an extended period of time. Thirdly, are you sure you want to do this? I don't know how good your quality of life has been recently but I am guessing it has been better than mine. It's a big shock going down from whatever you have been living by before."

"Bella, we are here to _learn_," Alice said sounding like an overenthusiastic saleswoman trying to make me buy butt deodorant*****, "give us a chance, please Bella? Pretty please? Pretty please with a cherry on the top? We are only here for another week before we have to get back and then you can come with us. Please Bella? I would worship you forever if you do!"

Unlike her brother, Alice can successfully do the beaten-puppy-dog look. I felt my will crumbling like cookie dough. I sighed pinched the bridge of my nose and said, "Fine! Fine! You can buckle down with me for a week, with no help from your fancy technology, but I swear to God if I end up nearly killing myself for saving one of you I will ditch you ok?"

Alice, Emmett and Jasper whooped and did high fives together, Rosalie and Edward looked like they were about to commit suicide.

"But first there has to be rules," I said quickly, they stopped cheering and listened in closely, "Rule number 1: You do exactly as I say, no 'buts', no questions, you just do it. Got it?"

If possible the look of horror increased on Rosalie's and Edward's faces but the others nodded, looking like 5 year olds listening to their teacher. "Rule number 2: no whining or complaining. I will give you three lives for whining but after that, I will show no tolerance for it, I might trick you into going into the woods and leaving you there, since I am the only one who has the entire map of this place in here," I tapped the side of my skull.

"You wouldn't do that," Edward scoffed.

"Really? It would be one less mouth to feed, one less person to care for, one less person to keep warm," I said brutally, "Rule number 3: respect Jake ." I scratched Jake's ears and he gave a deep rumble in his chest. "Respect him, he will respect you. Jake has saved my ass so many times now and I have saved his ass so many times. We're like this," I crossed my fingers over, "As I have said he's immune to the virus and a strong capable dog. Not only that, get him as your friend and he will be loyal to you."

"So what, we have to talk to him like he is another person, like you do?" Rosalie said sceptically.

"Not necessarily, you could stroke him. He likes getting his ears scratched, playing ball etc," I said simply. It felt weird talking about Jake as if he wasn't there. I was so used to him being the only living thing I could talk to, it felt rude talking about him like this.

"Is that all the rules?" Alice asked.

"Yeah I think that covers it," I said trying to look for loopholes in the rules.

"This is so exciting!" She enthused, "so what are we going to do Miss Swan?"

"Don't call me that," I said irritably.

"How about Teacher?"

"No."

"Leader?"

"No."

"The Wise One?"

"God, no."

"What then?"

"Bella. Just Bella," I said, getting more irritated by the minute. Things I have learned since the Cullens and Hales arrived, Lesson 7: People like to give stupid names to things. I turned quickly on my heel and stomped away, "Come on, we've got berries pick."

"Wow berries! Sounds like fun," I heard Alice chirrup.

"Yeah its fun when you pick the right berries. Pick the wrong ones and you are screwed," I said as I quickly put my shotgun away and swung it over my shoulder.

"Why do you need that gun for picking berries?" Alice was right beside me and was skipping merrily while I stomped.

"In case any wild mountain lions or bears are looking for a snack before bedtime," I said.

"What are mountain lions? Are they cuter versions of normal lions? Or are they just like really big cats?"

Oh God, this was going to be a long week.

**Well that's that chapter done. I just have a note on one of the things I wrote:**

***I have actually seen an advert for butt deodorant, about the funniest thing I have ever seen. With the same deodorant you can spray your…erm… privates and for guys they can spray their…testicles. Check the video out on you tube, funniest thing ever. **

**Just to make it clear, the Cullens and the Hales have been leading a rather luxurious life up to this point while Bella has been practically living in poverty for all those years. The Volturi now want all of humanity to go back to Earth, well people think that the Volturi want people to go back to Earth. I know that I am going to have a conspiracy; I am just not sure what yet. Anyway the Cullens want to know how to survive in order to give information back to the people in U-Topia, so that's why they are going to hang out with Bella for a while. The reason that they are acting kinda thick is because they have been living in a world where everything is perfect for them. And if for the majority of your life you have been living in a perfect world, you're gonna think that anything less is weird. **

**I enjoyed writing the Cullens as the clueless people, it was strangely refreshing. But for those of you who like their Cullens all superhero like, have no fear that is going to come soon. Right now its Bella that is the amazing one, which is again refreshing. I realize that this first part is maybe a little out of character. I am trying to keep to character as much as I can.**

**As always TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK! It's YOUR reviews that keep ME writing. I am not going to make limit of reviews like some writers because that is just cruel but I'd appreciate it a lot if you did review. So yeah…REVIEW! **

**Lotsa love **

**SS **

**x **

_**CLICK THIS BUTTON…YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO…EVERY TIME A REVIEW IS MADE PUPPIES ARE BORN AND BIRDS SING. DO IT FOR THE PUPPIES!**_

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	4. The Crash Course

**Sorry this took so long! **

_The Crash Course_

"Is this the right berry Bella?" I almost felt like screaming when another batch of red berries was thrust into my face.

"Yes, they're the right ones," I said as patiently as I could. Alice beamed and dropped them into the leather bag at my feet, before skipping off into the bushes. "This is fun!" she said enthusiastically.

"Really?" I growled, before taking deep breath and counting to ten. The novelty of being around human beings, had quickly worn off. I was now wishing to god that I had never taken them on. They were all pain in the butts, one way or another. Alice and Emmett, bless their souls, were way too enthusiastic about this. They started by trying to sing the _Spaghetti song_, or what they knew of it. What they didn't know, they replaced the words with 'La, la, la," until I finally shouted at them to shut up. Edward and Rosalie just sulked at the edges of the group and kept shooting me evil glances like a couple bitchy cheerleaders. Only Jasper was the least annoying, doing what he was told to do without much fuss and generally keeping quiet. We had made it to the forest and I had managed to find a bunch salmonberries, which look a bit like orange raspberries, and told them to go forage. I thought this would be an easy enough for them and that I would have time to myself to figure my thoughts out. Boy was I wrong. I had just got in the nick of time to stop Emmett from gorging himself on bright red round berries AKA baneberry, one of the most poisonous fruits in Washington. It would have caused him vomiting, dizziness and possible hallucinations. When I had successfully squashed the berries into the muddy ground, Emmett looked down at me and said bewilderedly, "I thought you said all berries were ok."

"Ok, _no one's _allowed to eat anything without going through me," I said. I grabbed a bunch of salmonberries from my bag and shoved them under Emmett's nose, "This is what you are looking for remember?" I shoved them back into the bag and turned on my heel, "be more careful next time or you might end up on the ground frothing at the mouth."

Now I was being bombarded with fistfuls of berries right, left and centre. I thought that a task like this would be easy enough for them. I thought it was perfect for easing them into my world. All it did was make me despair more about the task ahead of me. If they couldn't handle the simple task of picking berries how are they going to fare gutting an animal or shooting a gun? "This is hopeless," I told Jake, "What the hell have we got ourselves into?"

He made a look that said, "Everything will be ok. Just give them a chance."

"I am trying," I muttered, rubbing my temples.

"Is this the right berry, Bella?"

"Right, enough berry picking," I said loudly, taking Alice's berries and shoving them into the bag. Everyone wandered back to me, their fingers pink from berry juice. "We have enough," I said picking up the bag, "We need to find sleeping bags."

"Sleeping bags?" Emmett asked, his brow crinkled.

"Yeah, sleeping bags. Bags you sleep in," I said, "I don't have enough for all of you so-"

"We don't sleep," Jasper interrupted his eyes wide.

I frowned, "What do you mean 'we don't sleep.' Of course you sleep. Sleep's good for you. Don't tell me they've invented some drug that stops you sleeping."

They shuffled their feet awkwardly and glanced at each other. "Oh my god," I said exasperatedly, "What's next, a pill that stops the need for breathing? Why would you want to take an anti sleep drug? Doesn't it make you crazy? Not being able to sleep?"

"It wears off," Alice said, "We take it because it gives us more time in the day and stuff. You should try it, its really good. You don't even feel drowsy. Gives you more energy."

"Uh, no thanks," I said almost shuddering at the thought of no sleep. Ever. "I guess I'll find you some board games." I turned away and called, "Follow me."

"Why do we need board games?" Rosalie asked raising one perfect blonde eyebrow.

" 'Cause you have 8 hours to kill tonight," I said, "you can't sit there twiddling your thumbs."

"Can't we go outside during the night? We could stargaze or som-"

"No one goes outside at night. Ever. Just don't," I said sharply looking at each and every one of them. "Unless you want the Hounds to rip you to pieces, you stay in the basement all through the night. No exceptions. Is that clear?"

"Crystal," Edward said icily, his eyes frozen on me.

"Good," I said before beginning to stomp away again, "keep up. I am not gonna wait if you get left behind."

I heard them all mutter darkly behind me but they followed anyway. I knew they were all thinking that I was being the hag from hell. But it was the only way they were going to learn. We trawled onto the road and made for the nearest house. I didn't have many board games at home (rather difficult to play a board game with a dog), I mostly read or watched T.V. which used up precious energy. We made it into the living room of my next door neighbours. "Go crazy," I said gesturing around to the shelves.

"Are you telling us to steal?" Alice said, her eyes all wide and innocent like.

"Yup. As I said: go crazy," I said.

"But this is someone else's stuff!" she said, her face shocked, "you were never the one for stealing, Bella."

"Its not like Mr. Banner is going to miss it. He is in space, enjoying 5 star luxury. I don't think he cares if we steal his checker board."

"But-but-" Alice stuttered. You can tell Esme was big on morals with her kids. Bloody, friggen hell.

I groaned and rubbed my temples, "Could you please forget your morals and pick something already? If you don't find anything here we can go on to the next house."

She pouted but continued anyway to browse the books that lined the walls of Mr. Banner's cluttered living room. Mr. Banner, my old English teacher, had a rather decent collection of classics. His living room was better stocked than Forks' Library, so it was here I came to when I needed decent reading material. I may have hated the man but he sure knew how to read.

"I'm liking this the more and more," Emmett said, "Theft? You should have mentioned this before Bella." Looks like Esme's efforts were wasted on him then.

"Yeah, one of the many perks of living in a collapsed society," I muttered, "Do you want to go to the Stanley's house? They have some cool stuff in there that you can play with. Doesn't cost much energy either."

"Why are we doing this? I am sick of this and want to go home," Rosalie seethed.

"First life for whining is now gone," I said, bored tone to my voice, "2 more lives left."

"Oh shut up!" She snarled (actually snarled…scary), "I am going back to the ship, if you want to come, come. If you want to be a loser, stay. I am not taking anymore of her crap!"

"Roz," Emmett whined, "C'mon babe, you haven't really given it a go yet. Bella's just teaching us. She means well."

"No, she's just being horrible to us on purpose," Rosalie snapped, "she's forgotten what its like to be normal, to be human. She might as well be an animal herself since she talks to that stupid mutt."

It was those comments that made something inside me snap. I stood there quivering, while Rosalie continued her tirade. I was vaguely aware of Alice asking me if something was wrong. I shook my head but still the stupid tears welled up anyway.

"Roz, shut up! Bella's crying," Alice shouted her face screwed up in anger, "No one makes my best friend cry."

"Bells? What's the matter?" Jasper asked quietly.

"I am fine. Dust in my eye," I said impatiently, trying to stop my voice from shaking. I wiped the residue tears away from my eyes. I had cried once today and that was one too many, "Shall we go?"

"Bella-"

"Come on! Let's go!" I snapped stomping away. Jake forced his head into my palm and I scratched his ears. "You're better Jake," I murmured quietly, "You can't talk." His dark eyes looked up at me and I gave him a sad smile.

I heard the others follow behind me, hissing at each other. We trudged along the road, the awkwardness filling the air. Silence hung thick in the air, like a large buzzing swarm of wasps, waiting to strike. I didn't look back at them and none of them tried to catch up with me. I was in turmoil, my gut twisting around like a snake. You know how they say you should never meet your heroes? I never really understood that before, but now I understood perfectly.

The silence was only broken when we reached the Stanley's house. Jessica Stanley had been one of those girls you were jealous of. She wasn't necessarily pretty or had that great a personality, but the stuff she brought into school made her insanely popular. Her father had invented RealityPlay or R.P. for short. It was a way of becoming a part of the game you were playing. You would put on this lightweight mask, gloves and shoes to play a video game and play it like it's really happening to you. Mr. Stanley reaped hundreds of billions of dollars from the invention and he quickly turned his daughter and wife into a spoilt brat and a snooty cow. Jessica and her friend Lauren made my life hell from the day I stepped into school, sneering at my second hand clothes and my non-robotic toys. But it did mean I got to nick all the gadgets and toys that got stored up over the years in her house. And maybe smash up her things when I was in a bad mood. What can I say? I knew Karma would get her in the end.

"Jez Stan's house," I heard Emmett say, "She's just as horrible as ever."

I turned to him, "She's up there," I said, jabbing my finger to the sky.

"Yeah. Would you believe she still has temper tantrums if her Daddy doesn't get her what she wants at the age of 17?" he said grinning.

I cracked a tentative smile, "no, not really."

"She's going out with Mi y'know?" Alice said, gazing at her fingernails.

"Who?" I asked confused. Damn shortening of names!

"Mike Newton," she replied.

I raised my eyebrows in shock, "No kidding?"

"Nope, the poor guy. I feel sorry for him. Jez has high standards. I mean, insanely high standards. One day he is going to end up broke."

I snorted, "Serves him right." Mike had also been part of the bullying brigade; the names had flowed out of his mouth like water from a tap.

"Shall we go in?" Jasper asked.

"Sure, go nuts. I'm just gonna wait out here. She has really good stuff though. I got my Ava-board from this place."

"Ok," they all murmured. Alice walked up to me and put her hands on my shoulders, "Are you sure you're alright? You seemed upset earlier."

"I'm fine," I said quickly, "This is just a kinda emotional day, if you know what I mean."

She smiled warmly, "Sure I do. I am just gonna be inside." She suddenly gave me a quick hug before scampering off into the house. The others did the same when only Rosalie remained. She shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot glancing quickly at me before looking away. "What's is it Rose? You look like you have committed a crime or something," I said smiling a little smile at her.

"Umm…sorry for what I said earlier," she mumbled, her beautiful violet eyes suddenly locked on my dull brown ones, "Uhh… I don't know what came over me."

"You did," I replied, taking a few steps towards her, "You were angry, frustrated and acted the spoilt brat."

She flinched at my words but I continued anyway, "I was exactly like that when me and dad first started. I convinced myself that I hated him; I made sure his life was hell for the first few weeks. I refused to do the jobs he asked me to do and if I did do them, they were done badly. One night, one of our rows got so bad; I went out into the night when the Hounds were particularly vicious." I clenched my fists at the memory, of the screaming darkness that had coated me as I ran terrified for my life. "Do you know what Charlie did?" I asked. She shook her head and I replied, "He came out after me, risking his own life, with only a flashlight and the shotgun. He found me, pulled me up a tree near our house and kept me close to him until dawn had struck."

Her eyes were wide now as I recounted my tale. "I guess what I am trying to say is that yes, this life sucks. Naw actually, there are no words to describe the life I have been living for the past seven years. But ranting, screaming, fighting and behaving like Jessica Stanley, isn't going to make the situation any better. It isn't going to put food in your stomach or make the Hounds all die or make you suddenly appear on the luxury platform in the sky. Especially if you rant at the one person who can make this easier for you. I know I'm being harsh. Trust me, I don't want to be. You don't know how much I want to go with Alice on her many shopping sprees or have a normal sleepover with you two. But those days are over. We've all changed and that's bound to make things harder. So, we should just make the best of this. Can you do that Rose?"

She pursed her lips and nodded, "I'll try…and I am really sorry about what I said. I didn't think."

I smiled, "That's ok. I did a lot worse to my dad, trust me."

She smiled tentatively back, I gestured to the house, "You wanna go in?"

"You wouldn't happen to have any good books at your house?" she asked, "I feel like a romantic classic tonight."

I raised my eyebrows in shock, "You like the classics?"

She nodded, "I got really into them when I first got up there. They were a good distraction from-" she suddenly cut off and her beautiful face flushed. I didn't press it and instead said, "Sure! I've got plenty of Jane Austen and The Bronte sisters at home. You're welcome to choose."

She smiled broadly then, "Yeah, thanks Bella."

I smiled back, "You're welcome!"

"So…seven years on the blue and green planet… did you ever wish you were up there?" she asked pointing upwards.

"Of course," I said shrugging, "But there were times when I was glad that I was down here. That was mostly when Charlie was alive though. Strangely enough we had some good times." I smiled at the memory of my 13th birthday. Charlie had managed to find a can of Coca Cola. When he gave it to me, the squeals that emanated from the house could probably be heard from miles around. I remember opening the can and taking a sip before looking up into Charlie's ruddy grinning face and saying joyfully: "It's still fizzy!"

"Huh…" she said, scuffing her boot along the ground, "We thought about you a lot when we were up there," she said, "Alice didn't talk for a whole month after we left. Our parents appealed for a rescue mission but the Corps refused every time. Told us that it was too late for you."

"Oh, right…thank you for trying," I said staring her in the eyes.

She smiled sadly at me as the others came out carrying bits of technology with them. "Check this out! Remember these?" Emmett said grinning holding up a pair thickly rimmed sunglasses or Rose Tints. The glasses allowed you look at the world in a different way either making everything look better or worse, exactly like looking through rose tinted glasses. I remember that they rose in popularity because people thought the world we were living in was too ugly to look at, what with the spreading pollution and rising levels of obesity.

"Yes, I remember them. The most useless pieces of equipment in the world," I said rolling my eyes. He laughed and slid them onto his nose, "Woah Bella! You have daisies in your hair and you have fairy wings." I busted out laughing, "Nice, so I'm fairy girl now?"

He continued to grin as he took the Rose Tints off, "Looks like it."

The others followed, Edward holding a CyberGlobe, something you used to surf the net, Alice an R.P. but a sophisticated one, one that you used to create your own personal universe to walk around in and Jasper carried a Gameboard, a thin LCD touch screen that could change into any board game in the world from Monopoly to checkers.

"Awesome, we'll go home now, drop off the stuff and go do something fun while the sun is still out. How does that sound?"

"We're going to your house?" Alice asked excitedly.

"Mhmm, it is where you are going to be staying for the next few days. If y'all hold your breath while in there I'm sure y'all fit in…somehow." We began walking again, warm chatter this time filling the air. They told me of every happening to all of the other friends I had while on Earth. I learnt that most of them had hooked up with each other. Angela (otherwise known as Gel) was with Ben (B), Lauren (Ren) with Tyler (Ty). Some were completely hypnotised by the world they were moved to, others were not so comfortable. I laughed at some of the more absurd inventions they had come up with up there, such as having a droid for _everything_. You name it, they had it: parasols, bins, drink tables, toilet roll dispensers: all robotic. It was like the inventors were getting bored up there and decided that since they couldn't try to improve a perfect world they might as well just play in it.

We reached my home and the others all gasped, "I knew this was the place!" Alice said enthusiastically. She suddenly snapped around and grabbed both of my wrists inspecting. "Aha!" she shouted, wrenching my left wrist up, revealing the blue bracelet that circled it, "Why didn't you come out that day? I could have given this to you in person! Why?" I saw the hurt in her eyes at instantly felt guilty.

"I was going to go out," I said quietly, "But Edward…" I didn't finish. I dug into the pockets of my coat to find my keys and trudged down the stairs, my face burning like a furnace. Jake followed behind me head nudging my leg, strengthening me in a way that only Jake can do. I began to snap the locks open on the door before pushing the door wide open. "Home, sweet home," I murmured. I heard the others come after me and they all trooped in after me. "It's not much," I said, placing my bag on the nearest countertop, "Certainly not a palace… but its home."

"This is what you have been living in?" Rosalie asked, looking around at the crowded shelves and the humming generator and water purifier.

"As I said, it's not much," I said dully.

"You poor girl!" Alice cried.

I snorted, "This place has kept me warm and dry for seven years. It's the reason I'm still alive today. So what if it looks like a prison cell. If it keeps the Hounds at bay then I'll take it." I sighed, closing my eyes for a moment before opening them again, "Hand me your toys, I'll put 'em in a box somewhere. When I'm sleeping you guys will hang out in here during the night. If you eat any of the food in the boxes without my permission, I will personally gut you. Try to keep as quiet as possible, partly to not wake me up, partly to not alert the Hounds that there is fresh meat waiting below their paws. If there is a life or death situation, such as the basement is on fire, you can wake me up. I'll be in here." I walked towards the sliding doors and opened them to reveal my bedroom. "This is where I sleep, bathroom is through that door on the left, though I suggest that if you go to the toilet before I go to sleep. Actually, I'd prefer it if you did it outside before it gets dark."

"What? Like…do it behind a bush?" Emmett asked seemingly intrigued by the idea.

I rolled my eyes, "No, up the highest tree you can find. Of course behind a bush!"

Rosalie's face wrinkled in disgust, "Do us girls have to…squat?"

My face blushed a little as I said, "I'm afraid so."

"Ugh! That's disgusting!" she wailed as the boys sniggered in the background.

"And _that's _why I am glad I came with extra packaging," Emmett said, and all the boys burst out laughing.

"Not funny Em," Alice hissed, looking positively scary.

"It's damn hilarious!" Edward chortled. Alice smacked him around the back of his head, reaching up on her tiptoes to do so. "At least us girls actually have a sense of hygiene!" she snapped.

"Alright! Stop before this turns into a battle of the sexes!" I shouted. I rummaged around in the boxes before pulling out a battered baseball bat and ball. "Shall we have a famous Swan-Hale-Cullen baseball game? There is nothing else for us to do. I lied when I said that your time is mostly trying to stay alive. Sometimes you have a lot of spare time to kill. What do you say?"

"Sounds like an awesome plan!" Emmett enthused, swinging his great big slabs of arms. "If there's one thing I have missed about Earth, it's our baseball games. We're a few players short: Esme, Carlisle, Peter and Charlotte would have loved to play! But we can stretch it a bit, can't we?"

I nodded smiling warmly, "Think fast," I said to Edward throwing him the ball and bat. He snatched them out of the air, giving me a small smile. I reeled. Wow! A smile from the misery guts. Edward had hardly said a word since being on the football field. I guessed he was sulking after the grilling I gave him that morning. Maybe he was getting over his hormones now.

"Where are we gonna play it?" Jasper asked.

"How about our Meadow? Remember it?" I asked smiling. Our Meadow was this little clearing in the middle of the forest, where we used to go as children to play pretend games. In summer it was filled with wild flowers but, it being winter, the Meadow was probably now filled with grass. It was my all time favourite place, but I hadn't been to it in years. Every time I tried, the memories of what was and the reality of what is, collided with each other. I usually flew away from there in tears. It would be good to seeit again without the pain. And with my friends of course.

"Sure! Jeez, I nearly forgot about that place," Alice said wonderingly.

"Well let's go there then!" I said, I checked my watch, "We have few hours to kill before it starts to get dark. We better move it though if we want to have a good game."

"Game on!" Emmett yelled punching the air. We all laughed and for a moment, I felt like I was ten years old again. Only for a moment though.

The game was the most fun I had had in years. The laughter coming from our Meadow could have probably been heard from miles around. It was like the outside world didn't exist anymore, it was just us, in our Meadow. Our guards dropped and I think the part of us that was still ten years old was let free. The boys had competitions to see who could hit the farthest while playing the game. Alice danced around the home plate for a good minute after performing a home run. Rosalie, after snatching a flying ball out of the air, broke into a rendition of _We are the Champions_ while Edward playfully sulked by first base. Jacob grabbed the ball between his massive jaws and made us all chase after him to get it back. And, when I managed to make a complete homerun without tripping, Emmett and Edward declared me the reigning champion. They hoisted me up unto their shoulders and did a victory lap chanting: "she didn't fall flat on her face! She didn't fall flat on her face!" It was only the shrill beeping of my watch that made us all stop. "Time to go," I said quickly, glancing up at the now golden sky.

We picked up the baseball and bat and hurriedly left the Meadow. We made it back to the basement in good time. We all trooped inside, and I slotted and locked the various locks into place. "Make yourselves at home," I murmured as I kicked off my boots. "Dinner will be in a couple of hours. Time to play with your toys." We didn't though, we just continued to talk of memories. I smiled and laughed so much my sides and face ached. Time came for supper. Tonight was boiled dried pasta with tinned bolognaise sauce. To have us all eat together, I dragged out an old fold out table and made a few make shift seats out of boxes. "I forgot food looked like this," Jasper mused, looking over my shoulder as I crouched over the boiling pasta.

I shot him a look, "What does it look like now?"

"Colourful, like a rainbow. And it mostly comes in smoothies," Alice said, "What they do is that they recycle waste, manipulate the molecule to become edible food."

My stomach churned at the thought, "I'm trying not to think about that too hard," I said stirring the sauce.

"Oh it's perfectly safe," she said earnestly, "My favourite is chocolate cake and cream smoothies. Yummy!"

I made a gagging sound and the others laughed, "Oh Bella, what are you going to do when we take you up there?" Alice said smiling.

That thought hit me as she said. What _was _I going to do when I was up there? If I found this new race in my own home a handful, how would I fare in their world? I would probably be kicked out into deep space for being such a backward Neanderthal. I was glad when I tasted the pasta that it was ready, it interrupted the train of thought, "Grub's up, line up with your bowl and I will give you your portion." They did so and I gave them all equal portions. Before giving myself my portion I dug out Jake's dinner: another steak of deer with a portion of tinned vegetables. I gave myself the same equal portion of pasta and we all sat around the make-shift table. "Dig in," I said and I shoved my fork in and began to eat my food ravenously.

The other's hadn't touched the food in front of me. "It's so…lumpy," Edward muttered, prodding a pasta piece with his fork, like it was road kill.

"And… beigey-brown," Alice added on, a look of disgust on her face.

"Oh for love of Pete!" I growled, dropping my fork, "_That_ is real food. _Real._ That hasn't been recycled from somebody's crap. Some of it was grown in the soil and some of it was part of a cow's behind. It _won't _kill you. It just includes this wonderful thing called chewing. You know that is? Its when you move your jaw up and down and turn food into mush with your teeth. If you don't eat it you won't get anything else. Do I have to treat you all like babies and spoon feed you?"

"No, its fine," Emmett said quickly, "I'll take the first bite." They all looked at him in horror as if he had just said he will be the first to eat rat poison. He dug his fork into steaming mass and brought it to lips. His gulp of fear could be heard from around the whole room and he opened his mouth and shoved the mass in. There was a sharp intake of breath from around the room as Emmett tentatively chewed. His expression changed from a resigned horror to cautious enjoyment. "Hey, its not that bad," he said after he had swallowed.

"See? Told ya," I said triumphantly, "Dig in before I force feed all of you."

Everyone broke into relieved chuckles and they finally began to eat the first real food that they had had in 7 years. Conversation flowed easily, it only broke when Edward heard the howls from outside, "What is that?" Edward asked, cocking his head onto one side listening in.

"The Hounds," I said quietly, "Haven't you heard them before while you were here?"

"Our campsite has this protective opaque dome that automatically surrounds it at night. It's soundproof," Jasper explained.

"We've got to keep the noise level down," I said, "or they'll hear us. You just have to ignore them. Trust me, you will get used to it."

They all nodded but I didn't miss the looks of slight horror on all their faces. After supper we all continued to chat but more quietly this time. Time wore on and I found my eyelids were drooping. "I'm going to bed," I managed to say in between two yawns. "I'll see you all tomorrow morning. No eating the food, no going outside and please keep the noise down."

"We will," they all chimed.

Emmett got up and gave a rib crushing hug, "it's good to see you again," he said gruffly, patting my head. Alice quickly followed giving me another hug. "Cross my heart," she whispered in my ear before pulling away. I smiled warmly before retreating to my room. "G'night," I mumbled, waving tiredly, "Jake, here boy." Jake got up and trotted after me. I slid the doors shut and sighed. I said to Jake, "Well that was interesting, wasn't it Jake?"

**There we go! So sorry this took so long. It was really hard to write! Anywho please review, would be much appreciated!**

**Peace out,**

**CBWF**


	5. The Mistake

**Here's the fifth chapter! Hope you like it!**

The Mistake

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

"Mmmmiiiiiaaaach…" I grunted.

A cold wet nose nudged my outstretched hand and I felt Jake's rough warm tongue against my skin. I rolled over and finally pried my eyes apart. Jake was breathing into my face, his tongue lolling ridiculously out of the side of his mouth, "I had an awesome dream last night," I told him, "I dreamed that the other's came back and we played baseball." I smiled at the memory of it, "It was a good dream."

I sighed and swung out of bed, "We need to start setting up for winter, break out the winter coats, make sure we have enough grit, you know the drill."

I changed quickly into cargo pants, t-shirt and fleece, giving my teeth a quick scrub and dragged my hair back into its standard ponytail. Just as I finished moisturising my face the Rosalie and Alice burst into the room. They snapped the sliding doors behind them and sucked in the air. "You have to let us out, please. We are dying here!" Rosalie gasped.

"What? Why?" I asked.

"Em let out a Big One," Alice choked, her eyes pleading and desperate.

My eyes widened, "He didn't."

They nodded, "he sure did," Rosalie whispered hoarsely.

"I am so going to kick his ass," I muttered, "no one should do that in my house. Especially when it's underground."

Their eyes widened, "Don't go out there. That would be suicidal. This one is particularly bad. He blames it on the meal last night."

"How bad is it?" I asked, trepidation seeping into my voice.

"Y'know the one he did at Jaz's last birthday party on earth? Imagine that, but ten times worse."

My eyes nearly popped out of my skull, "Oh hell!"

"My thoughts exactly," Alice replied, putting her head in her hands, "It's like he has his own weapon of mass destruction already builtinto him."

"Well somebody has to deal with it," I said, shuddering at the prospect, "Uh well…wish me luck."

"We'll see you on the other side then," Rosalie said, patting my shoulder.

What! No: 'oh no, you can't possibly go, let me go instead'? Gee, thanks guys for being such great friends, really appreciate it. I set my hand on the handle and took a long breath. "Ok," I muttered, "Here we go!"

I slid the door open and was met with the most disgusting smell. Imagine rotten eggs stuffed into month old fish, dipped in diarrhoea. That was what the kitchen smelt like when I stepped in. I threw the crook of my arm in front of my mouth and nose and screamed, "EMMETT! YOU BIG DISGUSTING DOUCHEBAG!" Emmett sat grinning on the table. Jasper and Edward had tea towels wrapped around their mouths and noses and they were standing as far away from Emmett as physically possible.

"Better out than in I always say," Emmett said, patting his stomach, satisfaction and glee plastered across his face.

"Oh Jesus," I muttered, my eyes watering slightly. I made a beeline for the door and fumbled with the locks one handed. I burst the door open and sucked in a breath of clean fresh air. "Emmett, get out of here, now. Don't come back till you've bloody well sorted out your ass. And if you ever let out a Big One like that ever again, so help me God, you will be taking an early morning swim in the Pacific…naked."

He left, sniggering all the way, "Alright Bella. Just thought I would show my appreciation for the meal last night."

"You're so funny and mature," I snapped sarcastically back. I looked back into the stink infested room, "You guys can come out here. You can actually breathe here." They were out before I even finished the sentence. Edward and Jasper ripped the tea towels from their faces and sucked in the cold air, painful relief on their faces. Rose and Alice were also there, relief was also plain on their faces. "Leave the door open, let the fresh air in." I murmured, sliding down one of the narrow passage walls to settle myself on the wooden steps.

They murmured in agreement, also sliding to sit next to me. Jake trotted out, seemingly unaffected by the smell and settled ear the bottom of the stairs. "He's so…docile," Alice murmured, reaching out to touch his coarse fur.

"Yeah, Dad trained him well," I murmured, smiling warmly at him, "I don't know how he is immune. Dad figured he has some gene that combats the virus or something like that. It's not like we have the facilities to test that theory but whatever it is, thank God its there."

They all murmured in agreement before Jasper asked, "What are we doing today?"

"Preparing for winter, it's starting to get cold. Its boring work but it needs to be done."

"Alright," Jasper murmured, "Did you sleep well by the way?"

"Good, thanks. Better than usual anyway," I said shrugging, "What about you? You didn't die of boredom?"

"No," Alice said, "It wasn't too bad actually. We all ended up playing Monopoly on Jaz's Gameboard. Jaz won, Em nearly punched him, Ed tried to break them up and Roz and I hid in the corner. All the while we were shouting at each other in whispers. It was eventful, to say the least."

I laughed, "I can imagine." We chatted animatedly for a while before Emmett came back, the same stupid satisfied smile on his lips. "Done!" he cried, plopping himself down next to us, "does it still smell in there?"

"What do _you _think, Em?" Edward replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm, "We're lucky that we didn't die of asphyxiation."

"Oh come on, it was just like old times! Remember Bella? Like at your sleepover when we were ten and I…" he trailed off as I glowered at him and his smile quickly faded away. He then said with a slight sheepishness tainting his voice, "I was being a jerk wasn't I?"

"Hate to break it to ya, but you're right," I said, "as I said, deliberately let something out like that again in my basement, I will drag you to the Pacific for a very embarrassing 'walk of shame' from La Push Pier for a final jump at the end of said pier, butt naked. While videotaping it. You have been warned."

His eyes widened and he nodded quickly to show that he understood, while the rest smirked. "Another way you have changed Bella: you are very, very, very scary now," Alice said, smiling in an amused way.

I wasn't sure how to respond to that, so I smiled softly at her. I had thought a lot about how my friends had changed over the 7 years. I never really thought about how I had changed. I used to be this pale, skinny girl, who only ever had her nose in a book and would avoid any physical activity like it was the plague. I used to hate the smell of blood. I used to trip over thin air. I used to have no backbone. Now I'm this lean mean, fighting machine and as I realised this, I did a double take. A part of me, a part that was still that awkward girl, didn't recognise myself. It was startling and just a little worrying. Part of me didn't know who I was and I didn't like the feeling. I didn't like the feeling at all.

The next two weeks were the most fun, yet the most annoying, frustrating and total raise-your-blood-pressure insanity I have ever experienced. I swear there were moments when I wanted to punch my friends, others where I wanted to hug them. The spacesuits that they had come along with had gotten so dirty that we replaced them with clothes form the local area and in the end, they looked like the people they were before they left.

I learned a lot more about the new world and one thing became painfully clear for me. It was perfect world. No one committed crime anymore, no one was dying painful deaths, and no one was ugly anymore. Everything was served to you on, not a silver platter, but a platinum one. Volturi Corporations were seen as idols: they were almost the new religion. And they promoted one thing and one thing only: perfection. If you weren't perfect, V.C. will come along and make you perfect. Having skin problems? Go to Volturi Dermatologists. Are your lodgings dirty or shabby? Volturi Cleaners and Refurbishes will help you with that. Suffering mental problems. Volturi's Psyche centres are perfect for the job. All this talk of perfection sent a chill down my spine sometimes. Something wasn't quite with it. The other's would look at me in an odd way whenever I brought this up and I would realise that they had been brainwashed into thinking that this was ok. That made me angry. Who could brainwash my friends into thinking that? Any why would they do it? What were they gaining from it?

In the many escapades we had, learning about new skills, there are some moments that will just stick in my head forever:

"_Why can't we just let it go? We can't eat her! She's just too cute and fluffy. She reminds me of my Pookie." Wide grey eyes, staring pitifully at the squeaking rabbit, trapped in the snare._

"_Your what? Actually, you know what? I don't wanna know." Bending down towards the trapped rabbit, who was sensing it's doom as it began to wriggle more desperately. _

"_Please don't kill her. Please don't. We can keep her as a pet! We can train her, just like Jake!" Tugging on my right arm, as it reached towards the rabbit. Twisting around exasperatedly, towards those same grey eyes._

"_How do you even know it's a girl? And anyway it's too injured to be saved. Look at it this way: I have to put it out of its misery. And anyway, what makes this different from eating the tinned meat we have at the basement?" Insert singsong voice, "'Once upon a time a cow was grazing in a field. Then the farmer came along and led the cow away to the slaughterhouse.'" Remove singsong voice, "There is no difference from eating the meat of this rabbit and eating the meat from a supermarket burger."_

"_Please don't kill her. She might have babies!" Desperation filling her voice._

"_Oh for the love of…Emmett? Could you take your sister some place else. I can't have her going all 'Green Peace' on me."_

_**Few Minutes Later…**_

"_Right, now we just need to skin it and… Jasper, why are you poking the rabbit with a stick?" Curious sea-grey eyes flashing up at me._

"_Checking if it's dead or not." Eyes now filling with sheepishness._

"_Trust me, its dead." Arched eyebrow._

"_Oh… just to be sure…can I still poke it?" _

"_Uhm… why?"_

"_I've never seen a dead rabbit before."_

"…_right…that's not creepy at all…" Backing away slowly. _

But I have to say the best parts were when we had free time. The things in we did our free time were sporadic and random. We swam in the freezing Pacific, had a picnic on the roof of the police department and had shooting practise in Jessica's and Lauren's houses. It was like stepping into the past again. I could relax for the first time in years and I think they were enjoying themselves too. What little awkwardness there was between us, evaporated and we grew as close friends again. So it came as a surprise on a night that was so carefree, I almost lost a part of that.

"I want to go outside. I want to see the stars," came Alice's chirpy voice. It was late evening, so we were all in the basement, winding down from an action filled day. It didn't sound like the Hounds were out quite yet. I was boiling rice on the mini stove while the others were getting the table ready for supper.

I gave her a look that clearly told her she was crazy. "You already know the answer to that, Alice. No one goes outside after dark."

"But I want to see the stars!" she cried, "I want to see them again from earth. It's what I dreamed of. Tonight looked like it was going to be pretty clear. C'mon! Just one peek wouldn't hurt."

"Famous last words," I muttered under my breath, then said louder, "No Alice. You can't go out. Those Hounds are fast. They'll tear you apart."

"Well you have been saying that the Hounds are lessening in number and that they seem weaker. The scientists even said that they predicted that around this time the virus would burn out. We would be fine."

"I said no and that's final," I said sharply, "I don't care what your scientists predicted. They haven't been down here for the past 7 years. The world isn't going to suddenly change overnight. And anyway, the stars are probably nothing like up there," I said, gesturing upwards.

"Bella, you can't hide away from the world all the time. You've not been out, so you might not know what it's really like out there at night. There's not much point in surviving like this if you don't let yourself live a little. You won't get along well with our world if you're always worrying and being superstitious. They'll call you antisocial and probably send you off to the Psyche Centre. I've got five words for you Bella: 'Lighten up' and 'Let me out'."

Now, I'm not a naturally impatient person. I don't normally blow my top off at anyone for no apparent reason. But I guess after all these years; I had been saving up all that internal rage at the system that had left us behind, inside me and I guess I was just waiting for something or someone that represented that system to be my punching bag. Unfortunately, Alice was that punching bag.

"You think I am superstitious? You think I am over-worrying?" I exploded, the pot of boiling rice splattered across the floor as I jumped up to my feet. "Those two things have kept me alive for 7 years! You people just don't get it! You think you can swagger down here with your technology and gadgets and instantly own the world you abandoned. What about us? What about the people you left? You can't expect me or anyone else stuck on this godforsaken planet, to suddenly bow down to you because we think you are so perfect. Or allow you to brainwash us into your perfect little version of being human."

"We weren't-" Edward tried to say, his eyes wide and shining with some unknown emotion.

"Not one word. Nothing! Your bloody 'perfect' Volturi Corporations didn't send any type of reassurance to us. No help. No rescue. Nothing. And we waited!" My voice finally broke and my vision became blurry, "We waited for so long. Everyday, for the first 3 years, we would look up at the sky. I would look. Charlie would look. Heck, even Jake would look! But nothing. Do you have any idea what it's like, to know that your own race has given up on you? Once we realised that, we gave up and I haven't looked up at the sky in years. And I certainly don't want to see the stars. They'll remind me too much of that stupid hope I had."

There was utter silence and the way my eyes were burning, told me I was about to burst into tears. I walked swiftly towards the sliding doors of my bedroom, Jake at my heels. I pushed them open and slammed them shut behind me before slumping against the doors face in my hands, sobbing as quietly as possible. I was weeping for so many things: I still felt so alone, even when I was surrounded by people, all that hopelessness I had through those years crashing around me. Why did everything have to fall apart when it all seemed to be ok? Why couldn't the past just leave me alone?

I felt Jake's warm weight snuggle in next to me, and his head pushed between my arms and head. I clutched him to me and stroked his coarse fur. He smelt of gunpowder, fur, dog food and slightly damp-dog. It was comforting, in a really smelly way. A low grumble rumbled through his chest, reverberating through my body and he began to slobbery lick my face, mopping up my tears. It tickled. My sobs quickly subsided, to be replaced by tentative giggles. I stroked his fur more firmly and smiled at him, "Thanks, you've picked me up…again." I scrubbed at my face with my sleeve and jerked upwards.

I pivoted around again and snapped the doors open. I walked into the room like nothing had happened in the last few minutes and was about to help Rosalie clean up the rice mess when I noticed that something wasn't quite right. I froze and did a quick head count. "Where's Alice?" were the first words out of my mouth.

They all frowned and looked amongst each other. "Al was just here. I could 'ave sworn…" Jasper murmured, his eyes sweeping the room.

My eyes snapped to the exit door and I took a sharp intake of breath: the door was ajar. Howls drifted out from the space, like some forgotten ghost. My body went into auto drive. I lunged for the shotgun locker and pulled it out, while stuffing as many rounds into my pockets before grabbing the flashlight. Meanwhile my mouth barked out orders to the others, "Lock the door once I'm gone. Don't go after me. Don't move from this place until dawn. I'll be back." Their faces were a blur of panic and fear but I didn't register it. All I could think about was that my childhood friend was outside in the blackness…and that it was my fault.

Before any of them could reply I darted out around the door and sprinted up the steps, trying like hell to ignore screams from all around me. I burst into the pitch black night, the darkness like velvet against my eyes. Everything was distorted in the darkness. Monsters were created out of normal things and it didn't help my already pounding heart. I swung the flashlight around after turning it on and tried to look for Alice. I finally saw her standing in the middle of the road, her face turned upwards.

What happened next was as if it was in slow motion. I shrieked at her, my voice ripping through the night. Her head turned towards me and she smiled beautifully, her teeth glinting in the light from my flashlight. She pointed up at the sky and her lips were about to form words, when a Hound tackled her to the ground, its slimy sharp teeth buried into her arm.

**Dun-dun-DUN! I bet you all hate me now. *shrugs* oh well its makes a good story. Thanks to my Beta Water1Wolf to checking this through. She did an awesome job. Much love to her**

**Review! Please? It will make the chapter come out faster! *Does puppy dog face* pwetty pwease? **

**Till next time!**

**CBWF**


	6. The Night

_The Night_

Alice's scream ripped through the night like chainsaw, causing more Hounds to streak towards her. I sprinted towards her and, using the butt of my gun, smacked it into the head of the Hound attached to her arm. It released her, screeching as it went. "One," I muttered under my breath. I have this weird kind of therapy. When I'm stressed I start doing a tally of how many Hounds I can dispose of. I do it sometimes during my morning rounds; I even have my own personal best.

"I gotcha Alice, stick with me and you'll be alright," I managed to say as another Hound made a lunge for us. I struck it with the gun again and with lightening reactions, used it to shoot another one as it ran towards us. "Two, three," I muttered under my breath. I grabbed a now whimpering Alice and forced her to sprint. "C'mon Alice, you need to run. Run with me Ally," I growled into her ear, as her legs dragged uselessly on the ground.

"My arm…" she moaned. She was a dead weight in my arms; it was like trying to drag a deer's carcass along the ground.

"Ally, you're going into shock. Stay with me alright?" I hissed in her ear, one eye on her the other on the surrounding Hounds. They were circling us now, jaws snapping, black drool hanging from their crooked teeth. I pushed my own well of fear away and focused on Alice's hot weight. I hoisted her up onto her feet and did the only thing I could think of. I slapped her. "Snap out of it Alice and do as I say!" I said, shaking her violently to get her thinking again. She blinked and the vacant look from her eyes vanished, "C'mon, we've got to get to the Safehouse," I said, "Stay behind me. If one of them makes a jump for you, alert me."

Using the flashlight, I searched frantically among the trees for the florescent yellow flash of fabric that marked the base of the Safehouse. "Bella!" Alice cried. I spun around and shot the Hound bounding towards Alice in mid-lunge. "Four," I whispered. He crumpled to the ground, just as I saw a flash of yellow. "Follow me!" I shouted as I grabbed Alice's hand. I shone the flashlight into the eyes of the approaching Hounds. They shrank back, hissing at the bright light and we pushed our way through. Whenever a Hound tried to pounce on us, I would either shoot it or blaze the light into their eyes. My tally reached up to 23. We almost made it to the Safehouse without any injuries. Almost.

The Safehouse had been Dad's idea. In case something happened that forced one of us out into the night, there would be a refuge somewhere where one could stay and wait until dawn. There were several Safehouses all over Forks, all of them had to be updated with fresh first-aid kits, food and blankets, all tucked away into the high trees.

We reached the closest one and I shoved at Alice to climb the ladder that was stapled into the bark. "Go, climb, I'll keep the Hounds away. Shout when you're at the top," I said breathlessly. She nodded mutely as she began to ascend the steps, her feet slipping slightly on the wet wood. I leaned against the trunk, placed the flashlight on the ground and reloaded the shotgun again. "24…25…26…27…28…29…30…" I whispered hoarsely as Hounds threw themselves at me. I cut them down, my movements automatic and robotic.

"Bella! Climb up," I heard Alice holler. I turned swiftly and began to hoist myself up the tree. I was so focused on getting the hell out of there, I didn't notice the Hound that finally leapt out of the darkness and latched itself onto my calf.

Streams of swear words flowed out of my mouth and I tried to shake it off. It hung on and I whimpered in pain as its teeth cut through the muscle right through to the bone. "Bella!" Alice shrieked. I heard her rummage about up on the platform as I hung on for dear life, trying desperately to shake off the creature at the end of my leg. "Hold still," I heard Alice shout. Before I could even comprehend what was going on, there was a sharp crack. The heavy piercing weight at the end of my leg disappeared and I felt Alice's tiny hands grab my shoulders and hoist me up.

"Bella! Bella can you hear me? Tell me what to do! Oh my god, you're covered in blood. I think I'm going to be sick…" I heard her say through the mind-numbing pain.

"Don't," I advised her hoarsely and through gritted teeth, "What happened to the Hound?"

"I shot it," she said simply, "I found this hanging on a hook." She proffered the silver emergency Colt, which was one of the many firearms that were put into each of the safehouses, always close to hand.

My eyes widened, "You could have kill- doesn't matter. How's your arm?"

"Its fine, not that deep, I'll get a bandage... but…your leg. It looks…pretty bad. Tell me what to do," she demanded, her face hanging over mine. It looked pale and frightened her usual chirpy self absent from every crease in her face.

"Lay me down," I grunted, while my mind kept on chanting, _it's just pain, it's just a message and you can deal with it. _"Find my keys to the crate, they'll be on my belt. Rip my trouser leg off from about mid-thigh. Prop my calf up so that it is above my heart and then use the belt in the crate to wrap it around the bottom of the knee. Clasp it tightly, so that blood stops flowing to the leg. There should be a first aid kit in the trunk. Just pop it open. Clean the wound, and bundle it up as tight as you can. Compress it; I've already lost too much blood. Tend to your wound first though, clean it and bandage it up." I have no idea how I managed to say all of that so clearly, I was starting to see double of everything and my skin felt clammy. Definite signs of going into shock. I fought it off, trying desperately to keep my head. I couldn't leave Alice on her own.

"Right," she muttered. We were sitting in a dimly lit tiny room. It was like a tree house; the trunk of the tree went up though the middle of the wood planked floor and continued through the roof. A paraffin lamp lit the place, shedding light on the beaten metal crate that was chained to the trunk. The crate was open, blankets, food and first aid, strewn across the floor from Alice's desperate panic. Alice was bent over me and I was lying quite close to the trapdoor, which was firmly bolted shut. Alice worked fast. She managed to do all of the instructions I told her to do as well as tend to her own wound in 10 minutes. "Like that?" she asked as she tightened the belt around my knee.

"Yep, just like that," I managed to growl out. "Remember to clean it."

"Ok," she said a little breathlessly.

I smelt the antibiotics wash through the air as Alice ripped through the package of wipes and my stomach tightened. I hated the smell of antibiotics. It reminds me of hospitals and death. She brushed the wipe against the bite and I hissed through my teeth as a fresh wave of stinging pain rolled through my body.

"Crap! I am so sorry!" Alice squeaked. She sounded close to tears. Her grey eyes were flashing with panic and fear.

I tried smiling at her, but I think it was more of a grimace than a smile. "Just keep going. Cleaning wounds is always going to hurt."

"Ok…" she whispered, something unreadable inflecting in her tone, "I'll go as gently as I can."

I nodded silently and she proceeded to wipe gently at the raw and ragged flesh. I chewed on my tongue to keep from moaning out loud, so as not to scare Alice again.

"Right, I am gonna bandage it up now," I vaguely heard her say a few minutes later. I nodded dumbly; just glad she didn't have to wash the wound any longer. She pulled out the long pristine white bandages and began to wound them tightly around my calf. Once she had tied the bandage up, she kneeled down by my head and pushed my sweat soaked hair out of my eyes, "Is there anything else I could do?"

I nodded, pushing away the fuzziness that was enveloping the corners of my eyes, "Yeah, there's food also in the crate. We'll need it."

The next few minutes were passed in a thick silence. Well as much of a silence as it could be. Growls and shrieks could be heard coming from the base of our tree. There was the sound of wood being shredded as well. The temperature was dropping and my breath was coming out in a vapour. I managed to swallow down the dry energy bars and gulped some water before lying down again. I felt broken, drained. I wanted to sleep and forget everything that had happened tonight. "What next?" Alice finally asked.

"Nothing," I sighed, shifting into a more comfortable position, "We wait until dawn. Get the blankets out; it's going to get cold. We should try and get some sleep." My leg was now burning dully beneath the white bandages but I chose to ignore it.

"Ok," I heard her mutter. She rummaged about in the crate again before I felt the coarse fabric of a heavy blanket being tucked under my chin and another folded one under my head. "Thanks," I murmured sleepily, my eyes drooping, "You did well, by the way Ally. Managed to get you and I patched up in record time." She said nothing, and I heard her shuffle into the corner. I frowned, wondering why she was isolating herself. I opened my eyes to find Alice was curled up in the corner, blanket around her shoulders. She was shivering, her body moving in jerky movements. Her ice grey eyes were like over polished glass, set into a porcelain skin of a doll. Her face was so pale, any paler she would be see-through, her long fingers curled around her knees. She looked so much like a lost child wanting to go home.

"What are you doing over there silly! You're going to catch your death over there! Come on, sleep next to me. Share the body heat," I lifted my hand towards her, smiling warmly at her, showing that I wasn't angry at her anymore. She seemed to consider it for a while before she crawled towards me. I managed to lift the blanket up and she snuggled underneath. I put the blanket around her again, and we wrapped our arms around each other, her head resting on the makeshift pillow. Her heat melted through to me, and her shivering seemed slow. Our heads were turned towards each other so we looked into each others eyes. It was how I saw her crying.

"Oh Alice, hush, don't cry," I soothed, reaching with my numb fingers to wipe the salty tears away.

She tried to speak but her words were choked by the tears that were running afresh down her cheeks. I pulled her in for a hug and stroked her inky black hair as she sobbed into my jacket. I began to hum _Singin' in the Rain, _as I held her close. A vivid memory from the first time I had tried to runaway swam to the forefront of my mind. Dad holding me close, in one of the many high trees, rocking me as I cried for the end of normality, the lilting melody that I knew so well, landing on my ears as he hummed.

It suddenly came to my attention hat Alice was trying to say something. Her red blotchy face shattered the memory as she began to speak. "I-I am s-s-so s-sorry," she stuttered, tears continuing to stream down her face, "I-I didn't th-think."

"It's alright," I murmured, stroking her hair back, "You could have done worse."

"Like what?" she cried, her eyes brimming of guilt.

I shrugged, "Oh I don't know…you could have let the Hounds into the basement."

Her face paled at the thought, "True. But still-"

"Alice? As much as I would like to talk about icky gooey feelings, I'm absolutely shattered. Let's just sleep ok?" I said with all seriousness.

"How could you sleep with that racket going on?" she asked, her eyes flickering to the trapdoor.

"Simple: practise. I got used to it after about a year. We didn't always have a basement to sleep in," I said, now fighting to keep my eyelids open, "And anyway, we're so tired that the noise shouldn't really matter."

"Oh," she murmured, "Ok." There was a pause, before Alice next uttered the words, "I'm scared though."

I hesitated before I replied to her, trying to think of what was best to say. "I used to be scared of them to. I used to have the most awful nightmares about them. Until one day I just realised, that even if they took away everything that was normal, they still hadn't gotten to me and if I tried hard enough, they never would get to me." I shrugged, "I therefore concluded that I can only be scared of something if I let it scare me."

My eyes also glanced at the trapdoor, "And we're up at least 10 metres off the ground, with only a ladder between us and the Hounds below. They're nasty little buggers, but they still haven't figured out how to climb a ladder nor open a trapdoor. They aren't going to work it out any time soon," I said, grinning sleepily at her, "You don't need to worry."

She smiled back a little nervously, but relaxed none the less. I kept my eyes open until her eyelids finally slid down before I finally shut my eyes.

Next morning was quite different. I knew things were bad when I woke up and it felt like my leg was on fire. I swore lightly and tried to sit up. I winced as the pain spiked and I dragged myself to the tree trunk, the blanket tangled around my form. "Bella?" I heard Alice mutter. She sat up, her hair sticking up in odd directions, "What's the matter?"

"My leg," I grunted, pulling my back against the trunk. I ripped the blankets away from my legs and began to quickly unwrap the sticky bloody bandages. What I saw next was not pretty. My calf was swollen, an angry red permeating the skin around the wound. Livid crimson veins throbbed around the wound, lacing the skin like tiny creepers. And the wound itself was a sight to behold. Black and green flesh, scarlet blood oozing out of the fissures and cracks along with some clear and yellow fluid. By god did it smell! I felt dizzy, feverish, close to throwing up and so very tired. I swallowed and tried not to panic. Something had gone seriously wrong and for once in my life I did not know what to do. With a wound this infected, I would be lucky to live into next week without proper medical care.

"Oh my god," I heard Alice whisper, "What's…_wrong _with it?" She stared dumbfounded at the wound, mouth hanging agape.

"It's very, very, very, very, _very_ infected," I said, staring at it with horror, "Oh god what am I going to do?"

"What do you mean? Don't you know what to do? You always know what to do! Come on we can figure something out. Think! Come on," Alice's shrill voice became louder and louder as she became more frantic. It grated on my ears and did not help with the way I was feeling.

"Get the others," I ground out, "We have to get me down somehow. Knock on the door they'll let you in."

"Right," she said and she was gone before I could reply. I closed my eyes focused in on my breathing, each breath used to try and calm my thoughts down. It wasn't working to well. I was quite possibly going to die. Years of avoiding the bloody things and this is how I get done in. By one measly bite! Fate was a bitch with a nasty sense of humour.

What felt like seconds later, Emmett's head popped in through the gap, "Bella? You alri- oh god! Your leg!"

"Nice to see you too, Emmett," I grumbled back, "You couldn't give me a lift down could you?"

"Uh, well…how?" He asked sheepishly.

"Firefighter," I managed to say, black spots were starting to appear on my vision.

"What?"

"Firefighter!," I practically screamed at him. The walls of the Safehouse were starting to close in; they were going to choke me, "throw me over your shoulder." My eyes slid shut again and I heard him move towards me

"Ok," he said. What happened next, I don't really remember. I remember the feeling of being swayed back and forth and the feeling of cold damp air against my hot skin.

"Bella!" So many people shouting my name. Why? What did they want with me?

"Here you go princess," a gruff voice uttered near my ear before setting me down on the ground. Something rough and warm slimed away against my hand and a low keening could be heard.

"Bella, you alright? Talk to us!"

Maybe I should talk, just to get them to shut up. My head…it feels close to splitting in half.

A shockingly cold hand was placed upon my forehead. "Hell! She's burning up! Alice what the hell happened?"

A voice that sounded close to tears: "A Hound got to her, she seemed fine last night, but woke up like this…"

"Bella! Are you alright?"

I finally opened my eyes and was met with the vision of green orbs that were studying my face. "No," I told them before someone switched off the lights and the world was shrouded in darkness.

Murmurs, a gentle rocking, the hum of an engine. "Asteria, how's Bella?" a familiar voice asked. Asteria? Who's Asteria?

"Stable," came female voice, "Infection is under control."

"Good…good," the familiar voice said again, strained relief in their voice.

I tried to ask what was going on but it came out as a groan. I felt so groggy, my mind felt like it was stuffed with cotton wool. "Bella! Hush now, sleep."

I grunted in protest. I didn't want to sleep; I wanted to know what was going on. "Shh, it's alright, we're nearly there."

Nearly where? But before I could even try to ask the question, a wave of tiredness washed over me and I was out before I knew what was happening.

Light sweet music drifted to my ears. Warm lavender scented air caressed my face. Something soft and balmy cradled me in a comforting embrace. Had I died? Was this heaven? If it is, it's not that bad.

I fluttered my eyes open, just to check if there was any divine angel waiting to greet me, but only found a wall of baby blue fluff.

Huh?

I reached forward with trembling fingers and tried to find a crack within this wall of fluff. The wall cracked in a perfect line in front of me and peeled back to reveal a larger room. I stepped out of what I assumed was my bed. I turned to see what it really was. It appeared to be a hammock/pod, while the outside appeared to be made of some synthetic material made to look like blue leather; the inside was made of pale blue fur that had moulded to my frame while I slept. As I watched, the pod sealed it self automatically, leaving no trace of the seam from before. I tore my gaze away from it to gaze around the room. Well it wasn't really a room. More of a long sandy white beach with palm trees and an azure ocean stretching out as far as the eye could see. The sun was blazing down yet the heat it generated wasn't uncomfortable. A light wind brushed past me, now smelling of lemons and tealeaves. There was one lounge chair with white cushions and a small wooden table next to it, a vibrant cocktail sitting on the wooden surface.

I turned slowly on the spot, taking it all in. "Weird," I muttered. My thoughts tried to make sense of where I was. What had happened after I passed out? Suddenly thinking of my leg, I went and sat down on the lounge chair, and lifted my leg up. Pulling back the blue trouser leg, I saw what had happened to my calf. There was nothing. The skin was soft, not one blemish. It was like the bite had never happened. "Weirder," I muttered, as my fingers brushed against the place that used to be a mass of putrid flesh. I dropped the trouser leg and leaned back in the lounger, my brow furrowed.

What on earth was going on? As much as this place seemed to be like heaven, it quite clearly wasn't. It felt too…set up to be heaven. Many people might think that a long sandy white beach was heaven, but I wasn't one of those people. So being dead was out of the question. I wasn't hallucinating. This was all too vivid to be a hallucination. That only left one option: my friends had taken me somewhere to recuperate from the bite. Where though, I still had no idea.

Suddenly a rectangle shape glowed a few feet away from me, breaking the idyllic view of the beach stretching far away from me. I raised one of my eyebrows and murmured: "Weirdest," as the rectangle slowly darkened until it was quite clear it was a doorway. Dark shadows rippled within the rectangle until finally Jake bundled out, yapping like a maniac. Relief washed through me; at least I knew Jake was alright. A face splitting grin spread across my face and I opened my arms as Jake bounded forwards, "Jake! There you are buddy!" He slammed into me, knocking me back onto the lounge chair. I laughed joyfully as he slobbery licked my face, his hot breath was all I could smell. "I'm glad you're alright buddy-boy," I laughed again, and scratched behind his ears, burying my nose into his black and coffee fur.

"Bella?" I peered over Jake's ears to see who had called me. A couple stood in the doorway, unreadable looks on their faces. The moment I saw them I knew who they were. Esme and Carlisle Cullen. It was like seeing a snapshot from my memories. They hadn't changed one bit. Esme's golden brown curls were set perfectly into place, her hazel eyes sparkled with great kindness. Her hands were clasped in front of her, as if she was praying, the rose dress she was wearing reminiscent of the dresses she had always worn. She had always reminded me of a 1950s actress; she always managed to carry an air of class while still being the loving mother that she was. Carlisle had flaxen hair that was combed neatly to one side and green eyes that easily smiled. His hand was on Esme's shoulder and his white shirt and black slacks were pristine. Both were searching my face eagerly, like I was the only source of light in the room.

My smile, if possible, stretched even wider as I saw them and I fought the tears that were starting to well up as I saw them. These people had been like my second family. Esme was even my godmother, it was her I ran to whenever I had problems that I was too embarrassed to talk to Charlie about. "Hullo," I managed to say, my voice quivering slightly, "Long time, no see."

"Oh Bells, this is a miracle! You're alright!" Esme cried stumbling forward onto the beach and pulling me into a hug. She smelled of cinnamon and cloves, the scent brought a fresh wave of tears to my eyes. I had found another part of my old home. "Oh my darling girl, you're safe and well. Carlisle, can you believe it?" Esme said, stoking my hair gently.

"Hardly," came Carlisle's even calm voice and as Esme pulled out of the hug, Carlisle pulled me into his arms. He smelled of rain and sea, bright and clean. "Bella, Bella, you strong clever girl. Charlie would be so proud of you."

When he finally pulled away I wiped my eyes and grinned again. "Its so good to see you," I replied.

"We never stopped thinking of you," Esme said earnestly taking my hands within hers. "Never. We begged the Administration to send help to you but they refused. They were beastly about it! All but said that they didn't care about you and your father. But you're safe now and that's all that matters."

"It's alright, I understand," I reassured her, then said: "but where am I? Last time I was awake I was home…"

Both smiled knowingly and Esme led me over to the black rectangle again, "Well my dear let me show you…" we walked out of the room or beach or whatever it was into a long white corridor, Jake at our heels. Esme pulled me along the mint scented passage, door after door flashing passed us, We passed no one and it was not until we reached a pair of double doors. "Here we go," Carlisle said, smiling warmly at me. He pushed the doors open.

I sucked in a deep breath at what I saw. We were on the outskirts of a large clear glassed dome. I could see other corridors wrapped around the dome until about halfway. After that the Dome was comprised of streams of words and numbers. I read: "Girl of Seventeen Rescued from Ground Zero!" and "New! Turn Your Skin a Luminous Green!" The spaces that wasn't filled with information was filled with swirling colours of every shade blossoming across the sky. On the ground was hive of activity. Multi-coloured ant-like people strutted across walkways that led to a multitude of different places. I saw swimming pools, boutiques, restaurants and places which I didn't even have a name for. Lights flashed, speakers sang, people chattered. It was mesmerising, awe-inspiring, beautiful and breath-taking. It was a world that I would have never imagined.

"Welcome," Esme said, her eyes shining with the same vision as mine, "to U-Topia."


	7. The Deal

**Jeez, I'm on a roll here! Hope you enjoy this. Thank you for all of your reviews and such. They make my day, honestly.**

_The Deal_

"This is incredible," I whispered, my hands reached up touch the glass as I watched droids hum and float through the air above the glittering mass of the hovering city. "Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined this. I always thought you had gone to another planet like they said in those ads. Never…never a city in the sky!" My eyes flickered across the ceiling of the dome again, as the pictures and advertisements changed: '_NEW SMOOTHIE FLAVOUR: ROAST CHICKEN DINNER; THE WORKS! BOILED CARROTS AND PARSNIPS, ROAST POTATOES, HOT GRAVY AND TENDER CHICKEN! FINGER-LICKIN' GOOD! BUY ONE NOW AT YOUR NEAREST NOORY!_' "Well I never…" I muttered as a picture of a smoothie carton revolved across the dome.

"Come on," Esme murmured, as she took hold of my elbow and led me down the plush corridor Carlisle following closely behind us, "the others are waiting for you and Aro Volturi is wanting to meet you." Her usually kind face took on a tight lipped grimace, "he finally takes an interest in you after all these years." Her kind smile returned, "We'll deal with that later. In the mean time, the others have been asking for you."

She led me calmly through the corridors to what appeared to be an elevator, it was like a glass pod in shape and hovered by the glass of the dome. The outline of doors glowed in the glass as we approached and dissolved as we stepped in front. "Ladies first," Carlisle spoke, gesturing for us to get in first.

We stepped into the bubble. Once inside it spun away from the dome's surface shooting across the space. I stared down at the city as we moved above it. I still couldn't make out the people, I guessed we were about 100 feet in the air, so they were still like multi-coloured insects that chattered and laughed. They were people who had never felt pain or known hunger or had to fight for their lives. They were beautiful, perfect.

"How many people in total live up here?" I asked.

"This one is thought to have nearly a million people on board Utopia. Utopia is actually for first class ticket holders. Everyone else is in various other platforms throughout the atmosphere of earth. This one is in fact the smallest and the most luxurious out of all of them," Carlisle answered, "This is where all the survivors have been taken to."

"What? There are others from Earth as well?" surprise sparked my voice and I turned to face them again.

They glanced at each other, a nervous look flashing in their eyes. They weren't supposed to tell me that. "Well…when you were rescued there was an outcry from the people and so the Volturi had everyone rescued from the planet. But you're the first. You're the one they're interested about."

"Oh…so they knew about all of us. There was more than just me, there were other people down there and they didn't even try?" No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't keep the bitterness out of my voice.

"As I said, we tried sweetie. All the families pulled in for an appeal, but all the families were stretched out between the Platforms and it was hard to put up a good fight for-"

"No, no, no, no, no, no, I'm not blaming you. Its just… I am so going to give Aro Volturi a piece of my mind when I meet him-"

"Don't," Esme said, a panicked look flashing in his eyes, "Don't make him angry Bella."

I frowned, "Why? What's the worst he could do to me?"

"Just be polite, alright? As far as he's concerned, you're his guest and you must act that way. Show him those manners Charlie taught you," she smoothed the shoulders of the clothes I was wearing.

"What am I wearing," I said suddenly, not realising that my clothes had been changed. I was now wearing the same kind of jumpsuits as the others when they first arrived on the planet except it was a deep blue. My fingers reached up to touch my hair to find it tucked up into a twist at the back of my head, the brown locks feeling smooth and sleek under my fingers. "Wow, space clothes," I said lifting the sleeve of my arm to see if Alice's bracelet hung there. And it was, wrapped around my wrist. Jake's cold nose suddenly pushed into my hand jolting back to him.

I kneeled down to his level as the elevator continued to spin across the void. "You excited Jake? We're finally up here. After all those years of waiting," I said, burying my hands into his fur, "Though…"

I looked up to Carlisle and Esme, "How could they let him on? Didn't they have a policy that no dogs over a certain size could go on the ships?"

"They made an exception," Carlisle said, also bending down to stroke Jake's fur, "He's part of the whole look."

"What?" I asked. Look? What look?

His brow creased, "Aro will explain."

The pod continued to move onwards until it entered into a crevice of the dome. It weaved along the winding tunnel until it stopped by set of silver oval doors. They slid open and the glass separating us from them dissolved to allow us to pass. We walked out and it was like stepping into one of my memories again. The room was an exact replica of the Cullens sitting room back on Earth. Same Persian rug, same leather furniture, same painted pictures on the walls, even the same fireplace. It was just surreal.

"BELLA!" I was suddenly rugby tackled from all sides by the Cullen children. I staggered and dropped to my knees as everyone gathered in for a group hug with me squashed in the middle. My hair came undone as it was ruffled by a large hand. "Its good to see you Hells Bells!" came Emmett's braying voice.

When they had dispersed I got up, beaming at everyone. It's good to see your all ok."

"Belliebaby, is that you?" I froze, the voice I'd nearly forgotten.

Mom stood in the middle of the room, staring at me like I was an apparition. Her brown hair was neatly pinned back like mine had been, pink one strap dress fitting her form. Her brown eyes crinkled with laughter lines, stared at me as if I was about to disappear. "Mom?"

"Oh Bella darling, you're here!" tears glistened on her lashes as she flew forwards, grabbing me into a tight hug. Her fingers stroked my hair as she sobbed into my shoulder, "My baby has come home!" she cried as my arms circled her. She was smaller than me now, tiny in comparison to me. The revelation shocked me, just like most things did nowadays.

"Its good to see you Mom," I whispered, inhaling her scent of soap and lilies. She pulled away and cupped my face, looking at me critically for the first time.

"My how you've grown. My little girl is a woman now. And so _tall_," she smiled, tears still dampening her cheeks.

My cheeks reddened as she spoke, "Mom, you and Phil got out. First class and all."

"Our life savings, but it was worth it," she said, continuing to cup my face, "Charlie should have said to me, we would have helped."

"It wouldn't have worked out," I said, "But it doesn't matter now. Its all in the past."

"Exactly, we should now focus on the future. And that future includes you," this voice I did not recognise. I frowned looking around to find its source. A man with coal black hair and equally dark eyes stood by the fireplace, staring at me. He was wearing a pure white suit with a black tie, his papery white hands clasped in front of him. His eerily handsome face smiled a shark tooth grin at me. The hairs on the back of my neck rose and my gut twisted. My instincts were telling me to run, and my instincts had never been wrong. "Isabella Swan, it is a pleasure to finally meet you. My name is Aro Volturi, C.E.O. of Volturi Corporations. May I give you the company's deepest apologies for not rescuing you sooner. We did not have the resources to rescue you."

My urge to shout and scream at him was tied down by my impulse to stay alive. Jake was still by my side and he began to growl, his hackles rising. "Thank you," I managed to say in clipped tones, while yanking Jake's collar to get him to shut up.

Aro smiled even wider, "But may I also congratulate you Isabella Swan. You have done something we never thought possible: breathing." He suddenly grabbed my hand in his own. It took my all not to recoil. His hand cold, soft and slightly damp, it felt strange in my hard dry warm hand. He lifted my hand and turned it in his own, staring at it like it was a fragile piece of glass. "You are proof that life will out. Such strength in one body, my my…" his nose ran along my palm and I suppressed a shudder. I really wanted him to stop kissing my ass and telling me what he wanted.

He eventually dropped my hand and opened his arms, still smiling the smile that sent chills down my spine, "you could be very useful to us Isabella. The news of your arrival has spread across the Platforms and you have quickly become an icon."

"An icon?" I asked, liking this less and less by the minute.

"Yes an icon: one representing humanities struggles and trials, showing the human spirit will never be crushed. Not only that you are a fashion icon.

"F-fashion?" I said, trying not to giggle. But the idea of being a fashion icon just made me want to crack up. I was teased at school for my baggy clothes and jeans that were ripped from wear. Alice and Rose would drag me to the shops where I would sulk in changing rooms while they tried things on.

"Yes, everyone is demanding for those boots you wear, everyone is dying their hair brown, Pookies are being made to look like your dog. What's his name by the way? He reached forward as if to pet Jake, but Jake snapped his jaw and a fresh wave of rumbling growls filled the air.

"Jake! Stop it!" I snapped, yanking again on his collar, "Behave yourself!" I then quickly smiled at Aro, who's hand was now a fist and was staring at Jake murderously, "His name is Jake. I don't know why he is like this," I continued to yank on the collar, wishing he would shut up.

"Right," he said, staring at Jake as if he was road kill before focusing back on me, "The public at large sees you a hero, a celebrity. You're hot gossip. People want_ you._ And that's what we'll give them. Your celebrity status will promote the idea of moving back to earth, which has been proven unpopular with the general population. You will be given your own suite and you will be treated like the hero you are. What do you say?"

"Uhm…" I stuttered, a little overwhelmed by the whole concept, "That's very generous of you Mr Volturi, but I don't think I would be a very good celebrity. I've been out of contact with normal human beings for so long, I think it would be a bad idea to be commercialised like that. To be honest, I just want slip into this life with as little fuss as possible."

He continued to smile, but there was something hollow and rotten in that smile, "Please my dear, call me Aro. Let me ask you a question: You love Earth, don't you? You want humanity to come back to it don't you?" I paused before nodding at him. "Well think of it as a service to the planet you love so much. If you glamorise the idea of moving back down there, people will do whatever you deem as acceptable. If you are famous enough they will follow your every word and will make the Corporation's job far easier at convincing people."

"But the world isn't ready yet! The Hounds are still down the-" I tried to cut in before Aro waved my comment aside as if it meant nothing.

"We are already working on it," he said vaguely before continuing eagerly, "There is no need to worry about whether you are going to be a good celebrity or not. We will have team of stylists, P.A.s and managers helping to keep your image and organise everything for you. You won't have to lift a finger. Just do as they say. You'll be the face of Volturi Corporations! Other girls would _kill _for what I'm offering you."

"Sounds wonderful,' I said through gritted teeth, "I'll think about it."

"I need an answer now, Miss Swan. The team is dying to meet you."

"Wait… you already have a team set up for me? I haven't even said yes yet!"

"Yes or no Miss Swan?"

I licked my lips and looked at the others. There faces were a mixture of excitement and worry. Mom was practically glowing, "Oh just think! My little girl, the face of the Volturi! What an honour and from the man himself!"

Some however were not so ecstatic. Carlisle was frowning and Esme was looking anxious, twisting her fingers into painful knots. When I'm in situations like these, I listen to two things: my gut and my head. My gut was telling me to get the hell out of there before I got in too deep. My head was telling me that yes there was something definitely weird going on, but maybe I should just see what it is before I go running for the hills. Who knows, it might be nothing. And if its something I had plenty of people on my side to support me. I also did not want to get on Aro's bad side so early on. My gut and my head warred on for what felt like hours before my mind won. I acted nonchalant as I shrugged and said, "Sure, whatever. DO what you want."

He smiled triumphantly and reached forward to shake my hand, sealing the agreement, "You won't regret this Miss Swan. I promise you." His breath smelt of antibiotics. It stung my nose it was so strong.

"Right," I said, shaking his cold damp hand, "Nice to meet you Mr Volturi."

"Pleasure's all mine," he said evenly, heading to the pod, "You're team will be here to meet you tomorrow at 9. They'll -oh what's that old phrase?- show you the ropes."

"Ok," I said, giving him a thumbs up. Jake snapped a threatening bark at Aro as he stepped through the door.

"Shut up, Jake!" I hissed through my teeth as I smiled and waved as the pod spun away from the suite.

What have I gotten myself into?

**I'm sorry this is so short and bad. This was really a filler chapter, but I promise next one is going to be better. **

**Please review! I love it when you do!**

**Love**

**CBWF**

**P.S. Happy New Year when it comes!**


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